Quote Originally Posted by mickd1961 View Post
He was brilliant but for a very short period in the 70’s.

His Harold Wilson was superb and his Ted Heath but once they’d faded he found it impossible to mimic new personalities for some reason.

For a 5 year period he was fantastic.

Rory Bremner for me has the best longevity.
Agree with that. Re-watching some of his stuff on YouTube, the period in the 70s with him doing characters like Wilson, Heath, Patrick Moore, Frank Spencer or Steptoe&Son still work quite well whereas many of the clips from the late 70s into the 80s haven't worn well at all. Yarwood himself admitted to feeling despondent as the new wave of "alternative comedy" challenged the more traditional show biz acts and his own popularity waned but when watching some of his 80s stuff I just found the impressions not very good and the comedy weak. As you say, for some reason he found the newer personalities harder to mimic. I'd agree that Bremner enjoyed greater longevity but he would be the first to give credit to Yarwood for inspiring him.