Appearing on a major British television chatshow could make a showbiz career in the 1970s and 80s – and end one too. It was more than simply joining a line-up of famous faces with a fresh project to promote.
Sir Michael Parkinson was the first to give Billy Connolly, an unknown Scottish comic, a chance on his BBC show in 1975. A year later, Parkinson’s tussle with Rod Hull’s Emu puppet made TV history. And when Meg Ryan derailed her interview with him in 2003, her public image as a sunny, Hollywood heroine was dented. They don’t make interviewers like “Parky” any more, it seemed. Except now, it turns out, they do.
An exact vocal replica of Parkinson, who died last year at 88, is to be launched as the AI presenter of a celebrity interview podcast later this year. The eight-part unscripted series, Virtually Parkinson, will allow new guests to be questioned in Parkinson’s famous relaxed style, with the full backing of his family and estate. Made by Deep Fusion Films, the podcast is believed to be the first to be entirely presented by an AI host.
“We’re going for a new generation of guest talent, but that doesn’t mean he would not go back again to people he interviewed before,” said Mike Parkinson, son of Sir Michael. “Doing this now, trying something so new, we feel a bit like he must have felt back in 1971 when his show started.”
The AI version of his father will be driven by data culled from Parkinson’s back catalogue of hundreds of VIP interviews, including encounters with sporting heroes including the footballer George Best and the great boxing champion Muhammad Ali, who came back for a re-match three times. Parkinson also interviewed many of the great stars of the screen, including Fred Astaire, David Niven, Bette Davis and Lauren Bacall.
The new AI voice is not an approximation of Sir Michael’s voice, his son said. It is his voice: “It’s exactly how he delivered his questions – even the pacing is the same. It stills people when they hear it.”
The sound of the AI Parkinson – created by Ben Field and Jamie Anderson, co-founders of Deep Fusion – is not a close impersonation of the kind produced by an impressionist such as Rory Bremner. “Those are caricatures, done for effect. In fact, my father was quite hard to impersonate, especially at the beginning, because he was mainly listening and not putting himself forward. Initially, I’d say he was attempting to hide his Yorkshire vowels, but as he got more confident he spoke more in his real voice, with a little bit of added metropolitan gloss.”
Unexpectedly, the famous interviewer is also available to attest to the accuracy of his AI incarnation: “I have always held the Observer in high regard,” he told readers of this paper this weekend, in an unmistakable South Yorkshire burr, before claiming to be eager to read the article.
Field, also co-producer of the new show with Anderson, said: “We do not ever instruct the AI what to say. We just asked him to say “hello” after feeding in everything we know about Michael Parkinson to bring him back as authentically as possible.” The duo are now approaching a roster of A-listers to take part in the series.
At the beginning of each episode, Parkinson, the AI host, will signpost that he is artificially generated. Then, towards the end, the tone will change as the interviewee is asked how it felt to be questioned by a digital entity.
“My father and I used to muse about the people he missed out on talking to; great names of the past. He did not ever lose his desire to interview people – he just lost some of his energy. We used to joke about the idea of a “Jurassic” talk show, where he’d have brought back stars to interview them. He would have come out of retirement for Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart and Rita Hayworth, he said.”
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Parkinson Jr was introduced to Field and Anderson when he was looking for extra content to use on the YouTube channel that is devoted to his father’s archive. “They suggested doing something really bold instead. Why don’t we let him interview the next generation of talents that he would have been fascinated by? He would have loved it,” he said.
A few weeks later, he was warned to be ready to receive a voice message that would surprise him. “It was extraordinary to hear my father’s voice. But not necessarily in the way you’d imagine, because I’ve always been able to separate my father from the Michael Parkinson he became for work. And that was the man I heard. It was the way he was when he put on a suit and a tie,” said Parkinson.
“I know AI is a controversial development, but I felt that, if it was going to be done, I would much rather it was done well. Ben and James are the sort of people my father would have loved working with.”
Field and Anderson say they are committed to working only with the agreement of a subject’s estate and with the involvement of the relatives. “Sir Michael defined a new style of interviewing, so it is really appropriate. But as technology evolves, all we can do is put in protections, as others potentially look into this kind of legacy work,” said Field, who has advised on AI policy. “The important thing is that AI content is licensed and not just scraped from the web, when it cannot legally be used. We are creating jobs too. This podcast could not exist without the technology.”
Digital advances are not the only way to bring back chatshow hosts of the past. Sir Terry Wogan is to be reincarnated on stage in London later this year by the comedian Benjamin Alborough, with the help of a wig. The show, Late Night with Terry Wogan, will see actors playing celebrity guests take the chair opposite Alborough.
For Parkinson’s son, however, the tribute to his father’s skill will be more than a novelty attraction. It is a way to introduce new audiences to his work. It might even allow his late father to have posthumous vengeance on troublesome former guests. “Wouldn’t it be good if he could finally have his revenge on Emu?” he said.
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