Sir Michael Parkinson thinks 'Coronation Street' is "shabby" these days.

Sir Michael Parkinson

Sir Michael Parkinson

The 85-year-old broadcaster has always been a big fan of the soap and its BBC rival 'EastEnders' but admitted he "can barely look" at what's going on in Weatherfield now because he thinks the quality has deteriorated so much.

Asked what he's enjoying on television, he told Observer magazine: "I’ve always been a fan of soaps. I love 'Coronation Street' and 'EastEnders', but I can barely look at 'Coronation Street' now because it’s so shabby. I’m a sucker for the show ['Jesse Stone'] with the police chief [Tom Selleck] who has a huge moustache that looks like it’s eating him."

The Jazz FM presenter doesn't watch a lot of TV in the evenings because he favours reading for an hour before getting an early night.

Asked what time he goes to bed, he quipped: "Oh Christ, it would depend on who with! No! Hahaha! About 10pm.

"I read for an hour before I go to sleep. I’m reading Siegfried Sassoon’s memoirs about his time on the front line in the First World War. It’s always fascinated me. My granddad was wounded in the Somme, and after an eggnog at Christmas he’d let me feel a lump of shell in his shoulder."

But he does like to spend Sundays watching television as it's a day for him to "close down" his brain.

He said: "I normally don’t [get up] on Sundays. I often lie in bed all day long. Sunday is my lazy day. If I move, it’s down to the cricket field to watch a match. I have a drop of beer or two, then put my feet up and watch television. I’m not very adventurous – I close down my brain and do nothing."


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