TV veteran Parky set for transfer to ITV

CHAT show host Michael Parkinson yesterday sensationally quit the BBC and defected to ITV.

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.

"I have spent 20-odd years of my working life with the BBC and I don't turn my back on that lightly," the 69-year-old said.

Parkinson said he was left with no choice but to join a rival broadcaster after "long and protracted" negotiations came to nothing.

BBC bosses tried to move the Parkinson show to 9pm on a Wednesday, which he rejected. Their final offer was 9pm on a Saturday.

"In the end, I wanted Saturday and I wanted 10 o'clock on a Saturday, and they wouldn't give it to me.

"I had a choice either retire and walk away or go elsewhere," Parkinson said.

The chat show veteran said BBC bosses were "shocked" when he made the announcement he was joining ITV. He signed the contract on Monday afternoon after taking the weekend to decide his future.

He added: "I just had this predicament and it wasn't one I enjoyed sorting out. ITV made the offer and what they did was give me what I wanted."

Parkinson said his ITV show would be much the same as the one he has presented on BBC1.

"The guests won't change, the show won't change," he said. "All I've done is move the show over. It's a proven show and will work just as well on ITV as on the BBC."

The last BBC Parkinson show will be broadcast on May 8, with Bruce Forsyth and Boris Becker as guests.

BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey said: "Michael Parkinson is the doyen of talk show hosts and it has been fantastic to have his show on BBC1... Of course I'm sorry to see him go but BBC1 was already preparing for the future."

Two other rival broadcasters approached Parkinson with job offers but he chose to sign the exclusive two-year deal with ITV.

He refused to criticise the BBC, saying: "I had a very happy time at the BBC and I don't have a bad word to say about them."

The first ever Parkinson show was broadcast in 1971 and he was a British TV favourite throughout the 1970s, attracting guests such as Muhammad Ali, John Wayne, Orson Welles, Robert Mitchum and David Niven. It ended in 1982 but returned to BBC1 in 1998.

Recent guests have included David and Victoria Beckham, Kylie Minogue and Meg Ryan.

Landing the first interview with the Beckhams since the Rebecca Loos scandal would be a huge coup for the new show.

Parkinson said: "If an interview with the Beckhams were offered, it would be silly not to take them on."

Match of the Day returns to the BBC's Saturday schedules at 10.30pm this autumn after a four-year absence. The return follows the BBC's success in regaining Premiership rights from ITV.