[RhysJR]

Hard to fathom that these two fine broadcasters and gentlemen are no longer with us.

Rest in peace to the both of them.

twitter.com 

[Omnipresent]

Michael Parkinson was also one of the founding presenters at TV-AM.  He did give his account of the launch in the documentary "A Storm In An Egg Cup" as part of TV Hell night on BBC2 in 1992:

[Larry the Loafer]

I was really hoping ITV might've pulled their finger out and repeated The Final Conversation. Not only was it a brilliant celebration of Parky and the show but it was generally a great set of interviews.

[msim]

Was Parkinson one of the last programmes to go widescreen? I seem to recall something being said that Parkinson himself felt widescreen was less 'intimate' for interviewing. Is that true? A little research suggests it was 4:3 until it moved to ITV1.

[Newshound47]

Was Parkinson one of the last programmes to go widescreen? I seem to recall something being said that Parkinson himself felt widescreen was less 'intimate' for interviewing. Is that true? A little research suggests it was 4:3 until it moved to ITV1.

I don’t think it ever went widescreen.

[harshy]

The framing of the older shows certainly made it feel more intimate like shots behind Parkinson and the shots of the guest quite close up I think that was lost in my the later 90s series and onwards.

[bkman1990]

I've watched Parkinson on ITV when I was a much younger fella in the noughties. He always had great rapport with his guests on his show over the years. He was someone who definitely had made a great contribution to the British chat show era in his day. He is simply a chat show legend that will never be forgotten. May he rest in peace.

[James2001]

I don’t think it ever went widescreen.

The ITV version was widescreen, the BBC version wasn't.

Probably the last prime-time show apart from the news and Big Brother that was still 4:3 (there were a few later daytime shows though- Jonathan Dimbleby actually reverted to 4:3 towards the end of the run for example when it was downsized into a smaller studio without an audience- though even when it was 16:9 you had the bizarreness of the opening titles and first link being in 4:3, because it handed directly into an ITN bulletin).

[JMT1985]

I read somewhere Parkinson wasn't a fan of widescreen, he felt back in the late 90s into the 00s he felt widescreen was still a novelty for most people, who watched their TV either digital or analogue with the typical black bars at the top and bottom of their screen, and he felt it ruined the atmosphere and look of his show, especially with the close up shots of the guests.

When he moved to ITV he didn't have any choice, he had to use widescreen, but made a stipulation that close up shots would be the norm for his show.

[XIII]

I was really hoping ITV might've pulled their finger out and repeated The Final Conversation. Not only was it a brilliant celebration of Parky and the show but it was generally a great set of interviews.

I suspect it being 15 years old and 2 hours long makes it unlikely it'll be shown.