Michael Parkinson, Britain’s ‘king of the chat show’, dies aged 88

LONDON – British broadcaster Michael Parkinson, best known for interviewing some of the world’s biggest celebrities on his long-running eponymous chat show, has died aged 88.

“After a brief illness, Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night in the company of his family,” said a family statement on Thursday.

Parkinson, affectionately known as “Parky”, estimated he had interviewed more than 2,000 guests in total.

They included high-profile names such as American boxer Muhammad Ali, British singer Elton John, Beatles singer John Lennon, former English football star David Beckham and his wife Victoria, English actor Michael Caine and American pop star Madonna.

“Michael was the king of the chat show, and he defined the format for the presenters and shows that followed,” said BBC director-general Tim Davie on Thursday.

“He interviewed the biggest stars of the 20th century and did so in a way that enthralled the public. Michael was not only brilliant at asking questions, but he was also a wonderful listener.”

Born on March 28, 1935, in Yorkshire in northern England, the son of a miner, Parkinson left school at the age of 16 with dreams of becoming a professional cricketer, but turned to local newspaper journalism after a period in the army.

After moving into current affairs television in the late 1960s, he was given his own prime-time chat show Parkinson by the BBC in 1971. It initially ran for 11 years, before being revived in 1998 and later moving to ITV till its end in 2007.

Parkinson, who defined a chat show as “an unnatural act between consenting adults in public”, revealed he had bought the chair from which he conducted many of his interviews for £2,000 (S$3,500).

‘Owned Saturday night TV’

Ali was one of his most memorable guests.

Parkinson sparred with the boxer in a series of interviews spanning a decade, introducing his career to a British audience and charting his shifting political and religious views. He later wrote a biography on Ali, who died aged 74 in 2016, based on the interviews.

“He was the greatest interviewer of our age who owned Saturday night TV for year after year,” BBC journalist Nick Robinson said in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

In 2013, Parkinson revealed he was receiving radiotherapy treatment for prostate cancer, but got the all-clear from doctors two years later. He is survived by Mary, his wife of more than 60 years, and their three children.

Parkinson, who was knighted in 2008, was also known for two uncomfortable interviews with actresses Helen Mirren and Meg Ryan.

With Mirren, he was accused of sexism after he asked if her “physical attributes” had hindered her career and whether her figure could detract from her performance. With Ryan, the two engaged in a frosty, terse interview before the American actress told him to “wrap it up”. Parkinson later said he regretted getting angry with her.

While he listed American film director Orson Welles as one of his favourite guests, Parkinson also acknowledged many would simply recall the show where he was attacked by British comedian Rod Hull’s puppet Emu.

“All the wonderful interviews in my show – yet I’ll probably be remembered for that bloody bird,” he said. REUTERS