| | Parkinson (1971)Parkinson was traditionally broadcast in a late-night slot on Saturdays. A parallel series was shown in Australia between 1979 and 1982. In 1982 Parkinson left the BBC to be co-founder and presenter on the ITV breakfast television station TV-am, where after many schedule upheavals he ended up presenting the Sunday morning programme with his wife, Mary Parkinson. He returned to the BBC in 1995 to present a series of retrospective shows, Parkinson: The Interviews, featuring memorable excerpts, eventually presenting a new, revived version of his chat show on BBC One three years later. However, in April 2004, ITV announced that it had "poached" the interviewer from the BBC from the autumn of that year. Parkinson said that he was sad to be leaving the BBC but that he and the channel controller, Lorraine Heggessey, could not agree on a suitable slot for his show following the return of Premiership football highlights to the BBC One Saturday evening schedule. The ITV version of the programme, produced by Granada, debuted in September 2004, with an identical set, theme tune and format to the BBC edition. Its audience was around 6m viewers. The most recent Parkinson run on the BBC (1998-2004) was one of the few recent British TV programmes that was not made in widescreen. However, his ITV show was recorded in the format with very tight close-ups. Episode FormatA typical programme included three interviews, each lasting around 15 minutes. It was customary for the first two guests to remain after their own chats to observe and occasionally participate in those that follow. Such contributions were usually made respectfully, and when invited, though this policy backfired on occasion. In addition, some Hollywood stars requested a solo spot, Russell Crowe being one example. Furthermore, a show sometimes featured a single guest for its duration, if the subject was deemed to be sufficiently deserving. There was usually a musical interlude at some point, featuring a current recording star. If a solo singer, he/she was accompanied by the show's musicians, who also provided the walk-on music for each guest. In the 1970s, the group was led by Harry Stoneham. The role was undertaken by Laurie Holloway in the relaunched show. Interviewing StyleMichael Parkinson always sought guests who, besides being well known, had some sort of story to relate. He then saw his job as allowing them to tell it. He did this by being open, relaxed and attentive. (He learnt very early on that in order to be an adept interviewer, he had to be a good listener.) He researched his subjects thoroughly, and, in the early shows, always had his list of questions to hand. Having guided them to an area of discussion, he rarely interrupted his guests — except to provide the occasional prompt — instead letting them expand on a particular topic. Sometimes, a person would warm to this style with unpredictable results. For example, he regards his chat with Shirley MacLaine as bordering on flirtatious.
| Alternative Title : [Add An Alternative Title] | Status : Ended  | | Running Time : 50 minutes | | Premiered : June 19, 1971 | | Date Ended : December 16, 2007 | | Number of Episodes : 101 | | Language : English | | TV Station : ITV1 | | Country : United Kingdom | | Picture Format : PAL (576i) | | Audio Format : Stereophonic Sound | | Camera Setup : Multi-Camera setup | | Genre : Talk Show |
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