Parkinson defects to ITV

Chat show host Michael Parkinson has sensationally quit the BBC and defected to ITV, he announced today.

The veteran presenter made the move after BBC bosses tried to shunt his talk show into a different slot to make way for the return of Match Of The Day.

“I’m very sorry to leave the BBC, of course I am,” he said.

“I have spent 20-odd years of my working life with the BBC and I don’t turn my back on that lightly.

“But when the BBC brought back Match of the Day, effectively my spot had gone.

“When they bought the Premiership, they sold my playing field.”