[harshy]

Yeah definitely an amazing career, my first experience watching Sir Michael Parkinson was Give Us a Clue and he was very good at that, later realised he was the chat show king, having interviewed many celebrity greats, it is always sad to see someone die, but he had a long and very successful life who bought joy to millions.

[interestednovice]

I’ve seen clips of 2000 Today and it was indeed an epic programme. Most amusing in retrospect was panic about the millennium bug.

Being interested in TV in general, I am also aware of Parkinson’s chat show and have seen clips of that. He seemed to understand that the secret to a good chat show was to let the guests have the limelight.

In more recent years, I did see him on ITV 3 a lot with his free Parker pen and knew who he was - I used to enjoy watching old episodes of Poirot pretty regularly - so I probably will end up remembering him for that too, but that’s no bad thing. He managed to make doing even basic adverts seem quite respectable!

As has been said, I’m sure he’s enjoying his free Parker pen now.

[JasonB]

In more recent years, I did see him on ITV 3 a lot with his free Parker pen and knew who he was - I used to enjoy watching old episodes of Poirot pretty regularly - so I probably will end up remembering him for that too, but that’s no bad thing. He managed to make doing even basic adverts seem quite respectable!

As has been said, I’m sure he’s enjoying his free Parker pen now.

Is this the same advert where any mention of him was suddenly chopped out?

[DeMarkay]

x.com 

[Nobby]

Is this the same advert where any mention of him was suddenly chopped out?

I don't think it was suddenly chopped out. It just stopped being relevant.

When June first came around to visit the peeping tom "Dad" character, it was realistic for her to "remember the ads with Parky" as at the time, the adverts featuring Parkinson were quite recent.

As time went on, it was no longer realistic for her to remember the ads with Parky as June herself had become the face of SunLife and it would have been weirdly meta for her to start recalling the company's adverts.

The SunLife story line editor may have also been concerned that a character remembering "the ads with Parky" would conjure up images of Parkinson's Yorkshire Tea adverts that he went on to star in rather than fond memories of his over 50s plan, although I can't remember if they appeared before or after June stopped remembering him and as history tells us, the Yorkshire Tea adverts were not nearly as memorable anyway.

[fanoftv]

What a legend of television he was. From Give Us A Clue to Ghostwatch, TVam to his chat show, he was a very adaptable, warm and charismatic presenter.

One of the keys to the longevity of his chat show was the fact that he mostly allowed the guests to lead the conversation, which made for more entertaining interviews. RIP

[tellyblues]

I thought he was older. RIP Michael.

[Dadeki]

Deeply sad news although not entirely unexpected, especially as he had been looking increasingly frail recently. Nevertheless, he'll be missed.

[XIII]

Deeply sad news although not entirely unexpected, especially as he had been looking increasingly frail recently. Nevertheless, he'll be missed.

I thought he looked quite ill in 2020 whereas in one of his last interviews in 2022, he looked a lot better but still frail. There are some people who are really active in their late 80s and early 90s like Clint Eastwood, Rita Moreno etc but it doesn't take much at that age for the aging process to rapidly catch up.

[Humphrey Hacker]

Michael Parkinson's style of interviewing should be compulsory viewing for anyone involved in media or public relations. His style allowed guests to open up and just talk without feeling ill at ease (Meg Ryan being an exception). To me he was THE interviewer. RIP.


PS speaking of Emu
www.youtube.com