ITV has poached veteran chat show host Michael Parkinson from the BBC in a move that brings an end to Corporation's thirty-three year relationship with one of its biggest and most prolific stars.

Parkinson, who has interviewed some of the world's biggest celebrities during illustrious career with the BBC, has signed a landmark two-year deal that will bring him exclusively to ITV from autumn this year.

The chat show host will continue to do what he does best on his own programme to be broadcast on ITV1 on Saturday nights. He is also in discussions with ITV's director of programmes, Nigel Pickard, about future projects for the network.

Parkinson's decision to defect to ITV was promoted by the return of Premiership football highlights to BBC1 on Saturday nights, which meant the channel was no longer able to guarantee him the primetime 10pm slot.