BBC Loses Parkinson To ITV After More Than 30 Years
ITV has poached veteran chat show host Michael Parkinson from the BBC in a move that brings an end to Corporation’s thirty-three year relationship with one of its biggest and most prolific stars.
Parkinson, who has interviewed some of the world’s biggest celebrities during illustrious career with the BBC, has signed a landmark two-year deal that will bring him exclusively to ITV from autumn this year.
The chat show host will continue to do what he does best on his own programme to be broadcast on ITV1 on Saturday nights. He is also in discussions with ITV’s director of programmes, Nigel Pickard, about future projects for the network.
Parkinson’s decision to defect to ITV was promoted by the return of Premiership football highlights to BBC1 on Saturday nights, which meant the channel was no longer able to guarantee him the primetime 10pm slot.
Commenting on the coup, Pickard said: “Television stars don’t come much bigger than Michael Parkinson and I am delighted that he is joining us at ITV. There’s no doubt that he is the very best in his field and will be a fantastic addition to ITV’s Saturday nights.
He added: “Not only is he much loved by viewers, he also has the reputation to attract the biggest guest stars from here and Hollywood. Parkinson is the highest rating chat show on British television with one in three viewers tuning in on Saturday nights in 2003. He has tremendous appeal and it’s wonderful to have him as part of the ITV family.”
Parkinson’s decision to join ITV looks set to breath new life into the broadcaster’s Saturday night schedule, which has suffered from the loss of ratings winners such as Blind Date. The chat show host regularly attracts an average of almost 6 million viewers to the BBC, with audiences peaking in excess of 8 million.
During his time at the BBC, Parkinson has presented more than 500 shows and has interviewed many of the world’s most famous people from actors and sports stars to politicians and world leaders. Some of his most memorable interviews include Nelson Mandela, Orson Welles and Mohammed Ali.
Lorraine Heggessey, controller BBC One, said: “With Match of the Day returning to Saturday nights we were unable to offer Michael the slot he wanted. Of course I’m sorry to see him go but BBC One was already preparing for the future with big names from the next generation who are moving the talk show on.”
Earlier this year the BBC signed an exclusive two and half year deal with Graham Norton that will see the risqué comedian and chat show host work to develop a range of new formats for BBC One. Norton will join the BBC when the long-running contract to present his Channel 4 entertainment show comes to an end at the end of this month (see BBC Bags Norton As Channel 4 Contract Expires).
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