Michael Parkinson wasn’t as confident as he looked, documentary reveals

When the late, great chat show host Michael Parkinson's beloved father died, his grief led him to Australia.

Local audiences embraced him, and Parkinson aired in Australia on the ABC from 1979 to 1982.

Mike, the second of Michael's three sons, said his dad "felt safe in Australia".

"They loved him and took him very much to their hearts," he says.

"In a sense, it was a place where he could be himself. He felt comfortable there."

Michael's father, John, was a miner who worked in the South Yorkshire pits. He wanted more for his only son, and cast his eye far and wide.

"My grandfather was obsessed with Australians," Mike says.

"He actually described them as a lost tribe of sun-bronzed Yorkshiremen."

John passed that love on to Michael.

"My dad's biggest hero was Keith Miller, the Australian cricketer, so there was always that fascination," Mike says.

He insists you can see the shift on camera when his dad landed.

"He really did feel so much solace and happiness there, and I think that's why, in many of his Australian interviews, he was far more relaxed and open than he was over here," Mike says.

Beyond the chair

Michael's work is honoured in Parky, co-directed by Australian filmmakers Luke Mazzaferro (A Fire Inside) and Luke Cornish (Dance Life).

The film, which is being screened at the British Film Festival, features many famous faces, including Helen Mirren, Richard Burton, Judi Dench, Kylie Minogue, Mick Jagger, George Michael and Bob Hawke.

"He gave to the world these incredible long-form interviews that really are a time capsule, over the decades," Mazzaferro says.

"But it was the insights brought by Mike, his mother Mary, and brothers Andrew and Nick, that revealed the man behind the questions."

Parky goes beyond the black leather chair, giving us a clearer sense of a working-class man who was surprisingly shy and insecure.

"He was born in a pit village," Mike, one of the film's producers, says.

"Now, he was lucky. He had a far-sighted mother who refused to have any more children, because children cost money. His father was a magnificent man who worked six days down the pit, never complained, didn't drink, wasn't violent and loved him.

"But their upbringings were tough, and I think it bred a particular generation that weren't necessarily in touch with their feelings, that didn't lend themselves too much to introspection."

Mazzaferro was struck by an interview with Some Like It Hot star Tony Curtis, who asked a pointed question about what Michael thought of himself.

"It's fascinating, seeing the change in physicality," Mazzaferro says.

"He shifts uncomfortably in his seat and looks quite nervous, almost as if he's catching himself thinking, 'Will I? Won't I?'

"It helped the film click into place.

All in the timing

Michael leaned on alcohol after his father's death and could get cranky with his sons, but his confidence grew in Australia.

"England is still so class-ridden, and the fact is that my father never felt part of it," Mike says.

"He always felt that at any time someone at the BBC or wherever he worked would come up to him, tap him on the shoulder and go, 'You don't belong here.'"

It helped that Australia was becoming surer of itself during the 1970s and '80s.

"It was a vibrant, self-aware, cocky nation and Dad wanted to celebrate it and celebrate its talent," Mike says.

"You had George Miller and Mad Max and Men at Work. My father's timing was impeccable."

But opportunity also arose for his mother, Mary, who was also from a mining family and met Michael when she was teaching.

"She met a TV executive who said she should screen-test, and she skyrocketed because, like my dad, she was authentic," Mike says.

"The camera loved her and she was very stylish."

This was after their return to the UK from Australia in 1983. The launch of TV-am failed, and Michael was floundering just as Mary's star was rising.

"She couldn't walk around Marks & Spencer's doing her food shopping without someone coming up and thanking her," Mike says.

It was a source of friction in their marriage.

"Unfortunately, she was a product of her time," Mike says.

Mazzaferro knew that they were onto something by exploring these curlier aspects of their otherwise loving family dynamic.

"Karen and I were led by this incredible insight from Mike," he says.

"We started looking at the show through the lens of his questions being an insight into Parky, figuring out things going on in his own life.

"Patterns emerge — the constant questioning about fathers, about marital relationships or addiction, or contending with fame. And so Parky became a treasure hunt, mining all of the interviews to find those rare golden nuggets where he opened up."

Dream big

Mike, who also produced the 2021 documentary Parkinson at 50, knows a time will come when he must step back from his father's archives.

"I don't ever get bored of it, because it's an absolute treat spending time thinking about my father in a way that probably sons don't get a chance to, but there has to come a time where I move on," he says.

He hopes Parky can inspire a new generation to follow his working-class father's journey from an English mining town to Australia and back.

"If you allow kids who don't necessarily have the background, upbringing or the education a chance, it's amazing what they can do," Mike says.

"Hopefully, that's what my father's life story shows."

Parky is screening at the British Film Festival.