TV legend set to be brought back from the dead for new podcast with AI

by · Mail Online

A recently dead British TV legend is set to be brought back from beyond the veil for a new celebrity interview podcast, thanks to AI. 

The voice of Sir Michael Parkinson, who passed away just last year, will be recreated for the podcast, Virtually Parkinson, an eight-part unscripted series that has the legendary talkshow host. 

The podcast is believed to be the first to be entirely presented by an AI host.  

Mike Parkinson said of the podcast, to be created by Deep Fusion Films: '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. 

'Doing this now, trying something so new, we feel a bit like he must have felt back in 1971 when his show started', he told the Observer. 

He said that the voice they will be using sounded exactly like his father's voice that he used over the 25 years of hosting chatshows, producing legendary interviews with major stars including Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Muhammad Ali, Helen Mirren and Billy Connolly. 

A recently dead British TV legend is set to be brought back from beyond the veil for a new celebrity interview podcast, thanks to AI (File image) 
The AI-generated voice is being made by Deep Fusion Films

'It’s exactly how he delivered his questions – even the pacing is the same. It stills people when they hear it.'

'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.'

But the showrunners will not be instructing the AI voice on what to ask celebrities. 

Ben Field of Deep Fusion Films 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.'

Sir Michael died in 2023 of 'frailty of old age', according to the Express. 

Parky presented his programme Parkinson from 1971 to 1982 and again from 1998 to 2004 on the BBC. 

He then switched to ITV where his chat show ran from 2004 to 2007. He was last seen in public in April. 

The talkshow host interviewed over 2000 people from all walks of life throughout his career, pictured in 2006 with Jane Fonda
Parky passed away in 2023 
Sir Michael Parkinson, pictured with his friend and famous interviewee Muhammad Ali, has died aged 88

The cricket-mad journalist was frail as he celebrated his friend Dickie Bird's 90th birthday bash at Headingley, Leeds. His last TV appearance was in November 2022. 

A statement from Sir Michael's family said: 'After a brief illness Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night in the company of his family. The family request that they are given privacy and time to grieve.'

He is survived by his wife Lady Mary Parkinson and they lived together in Bray, Berkshire. They had three children, Michael Jr, Nicholas and Andrew. Sir Michael, a coal miner's son from Barnsley, and Lady Mary, from nearby Doncaster, met as young journalists and enjoyed a 64-year marriage. 

Sir Michael isn't the only one to have been creepily 'raised from the dead'. 

Celebrities including Edith Piaf, John Lennon, Tupac and Robert Kardashian have all been turned into AI voices.  

The most common way in which dead celebrities are being brought back to life is by digitally reconstructing their voices.

Michael Parkinson interviewing Rod Hull and Emu in 1976 where he was famously, and comically, attacked
Celebrations: The broadcaster was last seen in April with his friend and cricket umpire Dickie Bird (pictured), who was marking his 90th birthday in Leeds. Dickie said today: 'He was the best'
Sir Michael was all smiles as he left the restaurant Scott's in Mayfair with a friend during a lunch to mark his 88th and final birthday in March

Most notably, John Lennon's voice was isolated from an old 1970s home demo.

Filmmaker Peter Jackson used an AI tool called 'machine audio learning' (MAL) to render the performance 'crystal clear'.

This was then complemented by new instrumentation from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with a guitar recorded by George Harrison for the song in 1995.

However, this technique did not create any new recording in the voice of Lennon but simply isolated his vocals from the piano and other background noises. 

Respeecher, a Ukrainian AI startup based in Kyiv, has been behind the revivification of a number of deceased celebrities' voices.

Recently it was announced that Respeecher would be tasked with recreating the distinctive voice of Edith Piaf for an upcoming biopic about the French singer.

That Piaf has been dead for some 60 years presented no challenge for CEO Alex Serdiuk and his team.

The resulting performance was good enough that the executors of Piaf's estate said they felt as if they were 'back in the room with her.'