Mansplained

Mike Parkinson

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: All rights controlled by the bks Agency

Mark Atkinson is the son of a brutal, famous father and a damaged possessive mother.  A disaffected, isolated man looking for answers to questions he doesn’t know how to ask.   Willow is the sister of Mark’s childhood best friend, Jack Tyler. Beautiful, gifted, mercurial and damaged,

They first met at school. She was Mark’s first love and, hen she discarded him, he never truly forgot her.  

Mansplained is Mark’s life story told from his viewpoint. It charts the early missteps, mistakes and mismatches of his childhood and his growth to young adulthood living a formless, chaotic life full of estrangements, empty promises, and reckless love affairs. A confused man heading down a cul-de-sac.

Then an unexpected cry for help from his past reunites Mark with Jack and with Willow.

What will happen when they revisit and try to navigate an intimate and turbulent history full of misunderstandings and darkly tinged emotions arising from their troubled childhoods.

Mansplained is a novel that considers both the destructive and conquering power of love in all its forms told from the viewpoint of a man struggling to understand himself and his place in the World.

The youngest of Sir Michael Parkinson’s three sons, Mike has worked as a Producer, Director and writer in television for over 25 years.  After working mainly for the BBC, he moved to ITV in 2003 to produce the Parkinson show. In 2007 he co – founded, with his Father,  Parkinson Productions which has developed and produced award winning original programming for all the major UK channels as well as producing TV and radio projects involving Sir Michael Parkinson both in the UK and Australia.

Mike originated and performed the live An Audience with Sir Michael Parkinson show which has toured extensively in the UK and Australia.  Most recently he has co -written a book Like Father, Like Son which examines the relationship between his father plus a celebration of his Father’s love of sport in My Sporting Life.  In August 2021 he wrote and produced Parky at 50 for BBC1 which celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the first ever Parkinson show.  

Following his Father’s death in 2023 Mike has originated and produced Virtually Parky.  a groundbreaking podcast that features an AI iteration of his Father interviewing present day celebrities as well as developing a stage play centred around the 4 Parkinson/Muhammad Ali interviews and begin filming a theatrical release documentary exploring his relationship with and the life of his Father.

He has been married for over 20 years to actress and comedian Fiona Allen, has three children.