Sir Michael Parkinson’s five most memorable interviews
Sir Michael Parkinson’s interviews are among the most memorable in British broadcasting.
Interviewing high-profile celebrities from both sides of the Atlantic, he sat down with the likes of Madonna, Sir Elton John and Tom Cruise – as well as Sir Tony Blair and Boris Johnson.
‘Greatest interviewer of our time’; follow tribute updates
But out of more than 800 episodes of his chat show, he will be remembered for just a select few – and not all of them for the right reasons.
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A look back at Sir Michael Parkinson’s career
Dame Helen Mirren (1975)
Helen Mirren in a play in London in 1979
Parkinson was often accused of being sexist during an interview in the 1970s with actress Dame Helen Mirren.
Perhaps reflective of attitudes at the time, he chose to focus on her portrayal as a “sex queen”, quizzing her on whether her “physical attributes… hindered her career” or “detracted from her performance”.
The then 30-year-old appeared uncomfortable and grilled him on what he meant, accusing him of claiming “serious actresses can’t have big bosoms”.
Reflecting on the exchange years later, he “pleads guilty to being sexist by today’s standards”.
“I was my most pompous self,” he said, adding that it revealed “an unattractive side” of himself.
Rod Hull and Emu (1976)
Rod Hull and Emu in London in 1976
One of Parky’s most famous encounters was with entertainer Rod Hull and his famous puppet Emu.
In later years he joked that there were far better exchanges he’d rather be known for.
“I’ll probably be remembered for that bloody bird,” he said.
Over the course of several minutes, the pretend bird relentlessly attacked him, damaging the on-set furniture and eventually wrestling him off his chair to the floor.
He managed to keep his composure and good humour throughout, before eventually kicking him away and getting to his feet.
Muhammad Ali (1971-81)
Ali and Parkinson in 1974. Pic: BBC
Parkinson interviewed the legendary boxer on four occasions between 1971 and 1981, flying once to the US in 1974 to co-interview him with American talk show host Dick Cavett.
Looking back, he compared their encounters to boxing matches, claiming he “lost on every occasion”.
“He was confrontational, he was dictatorial, all those things… and he had that physical presence,” he recalled in 2016.
Their first tete-a-tete saw the athlete talk movingly about his upbringing, racism and conversion to Islam.
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Parkinson interviews Muhammad Ali
But as the years went on their conversations got spikier.
Their 1974 chat saw Ali declare: “You and this little TV show are nothing to Muhammad Ali.”
Then in 1981, he challenged Parkinson again, saying: “I’m not just a boxer. I can talk all week on millions of subjects. You do not have enough wisdom to corner me on television. You are too small mentally to tackle me on nothing I represent.”
Although he said Ali would present a different version of himself each time, he said he revelled in each chance to sit opposite him.
“What a figure, what a personality,” Parkinson said.
“I’ve seen some beautiful men in my time but he was gorgeous. Beautiful – but the gibberish he talked was extraordinary.”
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David and Victoria Beckham (2001)
Parkinson credited his later interviews with being his best, having gained confidence and learned from earlier mistakes.
In 2001 he sat down with David and Victoria Beckham to ask them about their relationship, public image and accusations of affairs.
The Beckhams in Manchester in August 2000
Quizzing former Spice Girl Victoria on how the public’s perception of her had changed – she suggested her husband’s image had overtaken hers.
“I think they think I’m a miserable cow in high heels and I just go down Bond Street all the time,” she told him.
“You can get down and think ‘why don’t people understand me, why are they saying this and that’.
“But what better person than my own husband to see how you can turn all of that around.”
After a short pause, she made the revelation that she “calls him Goldenballs now”, to fits of laughter from the audience, before adding: “That’s one of those things I shouldn’t have said.”
Meg Ryan (2003)
Ryan and Parkinson in 2003. Pic: BBC
A few years after the re-launch of his BBC show in 1998, Parkinson interviewed Hollywood actress Meg Ryan.
The frosty exchange saw Parkinson grill the When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle star on why she wanted to be an actress if she didn’t enjoy being in the spotlight.
He accused her of being “wary” of journalists like him and asked what she would do if she was in his position.
Clearly exasperated, Ryan advised she would tell him to “wrap it up”.
She later accused him of behaving like a “disappointed dad” when discussing nudity in her films.
In a Radio Times interview, Parkinson admitted he wished he’d “dealt with it in a more courteous manner”.
“I was quite obviously angry with her and it’s not my business to be angry towards guests,” he told the magazine in 2021.
He said he would apologise if he saw her again – a change in tune from previously labelling her a “bore” and “unhappy woman”.
Grammy-award winning singer Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88, her publicist has announced.
The American singer was best known for her hit songs Killing Me Softly With His Song and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.
Flack pictured in 1972. Pic: Photoreporters/Shutterstock
One of the top recording artists of the 1970s, she died on Monday surrounded by her family, her publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement.
In 2022, Flack announced she was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND), and could no longer sing.
Rising to fame in her early 30s, Flack became an overnight success after Clint Eastwood chose her song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, as the soundtrack for the explicit love scenes of his 1971 movie Play Misty For Me.
The track topped the US charts in 1972, and Flack was rewarded with a Grammy.
The following year she took the coveted Record of the Year prize at the Grammys for a second time with Killing Me Softly, becoming the first artist ever to do so.
Discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann, Flack was a classically trained pianist, receiving a full scholarship to study at Howard University at just 15.
McCann later wrote of Flack: “Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.”
Flack with her Grammy for Killing Me Softly in 1974. Pic: AP
A shining light in the social and civil rights movement of the time, Flack was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis whom Flack visited in prison when Davis faced charges – for which she was acquitted – for murder and kidnapping.
Flack also sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first black player.
Living on the same floor of the famous Dakota apartment building as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Flack also became friends with the Beatle, later releasing an album of Beatles covers.
Flack in 1976. Pic: Robert Legon/Shutterstock
Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack, to musician parents in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia.
She was married to jazz musician Stephen Novosel between 1966 and 1972.
Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included Feel Like Makin’ Love and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You.
Sadly, their partnership ended in tragedy, after he fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan in 1979, after suffering a breakdown while they were recording an album of duets together.
Stevie Wonder and Flack perform a duet in 1985. Pic: AP
While Flack never matched her first run of success, she had a follow-up hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet Tonight, I Celebrate My Love and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet Set The Night To Music.
In the mid-90s, she received a wave of new attention after the Fugees covered Killing Me Softly. She would go on to perform with the hip-hop band on stage.
A five-time Grammy winner, Flack received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020.
Contemporary stars to praise her include Beyoncé, John Legend and Ariana Grande.
Flack in 2010. Pic: Reuters/John Sommers
Working as a high-school teacher in her 20s, while gigging in clubs during the evenings, Flack proved a canny educator, telling the Tampa Bay Times in 2012: “I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, DC It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education.
“I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. [I’d sing]: ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!”
Entertainment
Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore among winners at SAG Awards – a major Oscars predictor
The winners of this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) have been revealed – a major predictor of the Oscars, with just a week to go.
Demi Moore continued her run of success to be named best actress for her performance in body horror The Substance, while Timothee Chalamet picked up the award for best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.
Demi Moore adds yet another tropy to her collection for her performance in The Substance. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
While not a complete shock, before this Adrien Brody had probably just nudged it as favourite for an Oscar win for his performance in post-war epic The Brutalist.
Now, the race is closer than it has been in years – and both Chalamet, 29, and Moore, 62, could be on course for their first Academy Awards.
Following a BAFTA win earlier this month, papal thriller Conclave was honoured with the top film prize, for best ensemble.
Starring Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini and Stanley Tucci, the film follows the drama of the selection process for a new pope.
Conclave stars (L-R) Sergio Castellitto, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and Ralph Fiennes with the ensemble cast award. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
During the ceremony, Rossellini said the film’s cast wanted to send their best wishes to Pope Francis, who is being treated in hospital for pneumonia and bronchitis, and wish him “a quick recovery”.
Elsewhere, the supporting categories were true to 2025 awards season form – Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana continued their runs of success with wins for performances in A Real Pain and Emilia Perez respectively.
‘I want to be one of the greats’
Chalamet attended with his mum, Nicole Flender. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The awards are voted for by members of the SAG-AFTRA union and are held as a celebration of actors honoured by their peers.
For the best male actor announcement, Chalamet looked visibly surprised as his name was called.
After being accompanied by girlfriend Kylie Jenner to the BAFTAs last week, this time round he was celebrating with his mum, Nicole Flender.
“The truth is, this was five-and-a-half years of my life. I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero,” he said on stage. “It was the honour of a lifetime playing him.”
Making no secret of his ambitions, he added: “The truth is I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.”
Moore said joining SAG-AFTRA as a teenager in 1978 gave her meaning as “a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life”.
Jane Fonda was honoured with a lifetime achievement award. Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
Actress and activist Jane Fonda, 87, provided the ceremony’s most passionate political moment as she was honoured with a lifetime achievement prize.
“We are in our documentary moment,” she said. “This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal.”
The word “woke”, she added, “just means you give a damn” about others.
The TV winners
Shogun stars (L-R) Tommy Bastow, Shinnosuke Abe, Moeka Hoshi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano and Hiroto Kanai. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The SAG Awards also include TV categories, with Japanese historical drama Shogun picking up the gong for best ensemble and its stars, Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai, named best actor and actress.
Only Murders In The Building took home the prize for best comedy ensemble, with star Martin Short named best actor in a comedy series.
Jean Smart, who had previously called for cancelling the awards shows due to the wildfires that hit LA in January, was named best actress in a comedy, for her role in Hacks. She did not attend, but gave a recorded introduction.
In the limited series category, British star Jessica Gunning was named best actress for Baby Reindeer, while Irish star Colin Farrell was named best actor for The Penguin.
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