Broadcaster Jeremy Paxman reflects on life with Parkinson’s in a new documentary

18 months after he announced his Parkinson’s diagnosis, Jeremy Paxman has opened up about his experience and shone a light on the condition and others affected by it in a brand new TV documentary, Paxman: Putting Up With Parkinson's.

True to his normal style, Jeremy brought his honest and forthright approach to the condition and life in general in the one-off, 60 minute special. In it, he met a wide range of people including Sharon Osborne, Joy Milne, Paul Sinha, our President Jane Asher, and Professor Steve Gentleman who oversees the Parkinson’s UK Brain Bank at Imperial College London.

Jeremy also discussed finding out he has Parkinson’s, saying:

"Well it was completely out of the blue. I was having a walk in the square across the way. There was ice around and I had the dog with me, the dog was on a lead. The first thing I knew was when somebody was sitting me on a bench. I’d fallen over and I made a terrible mess of my face.

"I’d gone straight down on my hooter. Which, as you can see, is not small. Cuts all over the place. I was a real mess. And when I was in A&E, a doctor walked in and said, 'I think you’ve got Parkinson’s.' And it turned out that he had been watching University Challenge and had noticed that my face had acquired what’s known as the Parkinson's 'mask'.

"I wasn’t as effusive and exuberant as normal. I had no idea."

Paxman: Putting Up With Parkinson's is available to view on the ITV Hub. Our new advert features in one of the breaks. Watch our new advert here.

Top image credit: ITV's Paxman: Putting Up With Parkinson's