Research Paper On Michael Parkinson

A Study of Michael Parkinson

At the age of 16, Michael Parkinson was fresh out of Barnsley Grammer School with the hopes of becoming a professional cricketer. However his hopes and dreams crashed when he was rejected by Yorkshire Country Club. With the feeling of disappointment Michael then turned to journalism. He is now one of the most successful journalists in Britain today.
In 1971, BBC decided to give Michael Parkinson, a relatively young broadcaster, his own evening chat show, "Parkinson”. Parkinson was a breath of fresh air and over the following 11 years he interviewed many of the leading celebrities of the time. The program established him as one of the best known faces on television.
Parkinson's chat show was axed in 1982. He
Parkinson: But then. The worst one of all, that big head you had, ‘there is another time lord.’ Is that the big thing?’
It is very easy to identify that Parkinson is searching for answers here. He starts off by stating that there is a ‘Christmas Special’ and that it ends with a ‘big bang’. David simply replies by saying ‘oh yeah’. It’s plain to see that Parkinson was seeking a more explanatory answer so he pressed by saying ‘See there’s mysteries out there. Because you’ve got a son, haven’t you?’ Again David answer was short. This leads Parkinson to say ‘In the series, it’s hinted at’ and finally gets a longer answer that he was looking for.

The structure of the interview that Parkinson has shaped is well deliberated. Michael Parkinson has pre-planned questions but to insure that there is a good rhythmic flow to the interview he has included spontaneous queries.
Parkinson: Don’t get them and more excited than they already are for god’s sake! And also these dolls we’ve got here look. In fact, am I right in saying you got the idea of the look for Doctor who from watching this show didn’t
Because it was something that I’d loved for a long time and I’d joked in the past that I’d like that pat but it’s like be careful what you wish for. Suddenly it wasn’t a fantasy, it was actually being offered to me…’
When first coming across the question asked, it is easy to identify that it is a closed one. However, on seeing Tennant’s very detailed reply one can suspect that the question was pre-panned and the answer was researched by Parkinson. It seems that Parkinson realized that there was a story to be heard behind the question, there for he proposes it as a closed question but intends it to unravel something of a greater context. This also occurs in the Jeremy Paxman interview. Parkinson asks, ‘did you worry about Michael Howard?’ and receives a very detailed reply.

One can depict that whilst Parkinson progresses into the interview with David Tennant, he recognises the need for promoting the Doctor Who show. ‘Tennant: … Is that vaguely normal? Parkinson: Let’s have a look at an episode that goes out in two week’s time.’
Here Tennant was articulating about the intimate scenes in his movie, Cassanova. Parkinson realized that there wasn’t much reference to the show being made and that they were running out of time and somewhat jumped to talking about Doctor Who instead of replying to Tennant’s question about