MICHAEL PARKINSON has announced today that the next series of his eponymous talk show will be his last.

Michael said: “After three enjoyable and productive years at ITV, and after 25 years of doing my talk show I have decided that this forthcoming series will be my last. I’m going to take next year off to write my autobiography and consider other television projects. My thanks go out to all those who have worked on the shows down the years and the viewers for their loyal support and occasional kind words.”

Michael’s latest series concluded on ITV1 last Saturday night, and PARKINSON will return in the Autumn for a 12 week run, produced by ITV Productions.

Michael Parkinson brought his show to ITV in 2004 after over three decades at the BBC. Since then he has welcomed many of the world’s biggest stars to the programme including Tom Cruise, Madonna, John Travolta, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Sir Elton John, Ricky Gervais, Robbie Williams, Lauren Bacall, Sir Paul McCartney, Bette Midler and Kate Winslet.

Paul Jackson, Director of Entertainment and Comedy, said: “As someone who worked with Michael in a very junior role in the 1970s and was involved in bringing him back to prime-time television in the 1990s, I have been delighted to work with him once again in these last three years at ITV. He has defined the talk show in British television and no-one has come near to equalling his record. His name is synonymous throughout the English speaking world as a benchmark for integrity and quality in the talk show genre and being invited to appear on his show is a recognised landmark in any star’s career. We are delighted to be talking to Michael about new projects for 2008 and we will be working with him and his team to ensure that this last series sends him off in the style which he so richly deserves.”

Mark Wells, Executive Producer of PARKINSON, said: “Truly, this is the end of an era. Michael Parkinson is one of the giants of broadcasting, his skills as a talk show host are quite simply the best in the world. The PARKINSON show has been a part of the British Saturday night for so long, it’s hard to imagine life without it.”

PARKINSON first became established as a regular fixture on Saturday night television in the early 1970s, and during Michael’s long tenure as Britain’s premier talk show host he has undertaken thousands of interviews. The list reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of popular culture of the last thirty years, and many of the encounters have attained legendary status – his interviews with Muhammad Ali, Fred Astaire, Richard Burton and Orson Welles, to name but a few.