Early television roles included bit-parts in programmes such as Bill Brand (1976), The One and Only Phyllis Dixey (1978), and Coronation Street (1982), and Heartbeat (1994).

Wharmby made his debut in Last of the Summer Wine in 1982, after initially auditioning for a one-line part and impressing director Alan J.W.

Wharmby appeared as a regular cast member for 16 series between 1985 and 2002 alongside Dame Thora Hird as his nagging wife, Edie, from 1986.

Although initially overawed at working with Hird, Wharmby eventually started giving her "notes", to the veteran actress's great amusement.

Wharmby had small roles in programmes such as Troy Kennedy Martin's nuclear thriller Edge of Darkness (1985), Brookside (1985), All Creatures Great and Small (1988), A Very British Coup (1988), Coronation Street as a milkman (1982) Agatha Christie's Poirot (1990), Heartbeat (1994), and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996).