I happen to be a male chauvinist pig who loves women and enjoys flirting with women. I also think a lot of women watch the show but not for my bedroo… - Michael Parkinson

That's the first talk show I'd ever done. I was terrified. I watched it and I actually thought, bloody hell! I did really well. I was so young and inexperienced. And he was such a f------ sexist old fart. He was. He denies it to this day that it was sexist, but of course he was.

This accusation that I was 'soft' implies that you get more out of people by being aggressive. But the people I interview aren't criminals or child molesters, so why on earth should I act like an interrogator? [...] I relax the guests, I am a great listener.

[On the 1975 Mirren interview] I don't want to [apologise]. Nor does she. I don’t regard what happened there as being anything other than good television. [...] There is no need to apologise, not at all. She didn't want to do an interview and after about 10 minutes, I didn't want to interview her. There's no problem, it's not World War III for God’s sake.