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Yarwood's career peaked during the 1970s when he was one of a stable of stars under the BBC Light Entertainment impresario Bill Cotton, alongside Bruce Forsyth, Dick Emery, Morecambe and Wise, Val Doonican and The Two Ronnies, all these performers having started their careers on ITV during the preceding decade.

By the late 1970s some of them left the BBC and returned to independent television.

Both Yarwood and Morecambe and Wise signed up with Thames TV, with mixed results ; Morecambe and Wise fared better than Yarwood and their ratings remained relatively high.

Forsyth signed to LWT and suffered a terrible start when his Big Night series was cancelled.

However, unlike Yarwood, Forsyth bounced back and enjoyed a huge success with Play Your Cards Right.