Michael John Whitehall is an English author, producer, talent agent and television personality. He is a former theatrical agent who went on to form two production companies, Havahall Pictures (with Nigel Havers) in 1988, and Whitehall Films in 1998. He has represented Colin Firth and Dame Judi Dench. He is the father of comedian and actor Jack Whitehall.
Whitehall was educated at Ampleforth College, a Catholic boarding school in Yorkshire, run by Benedictine monks. After his education, Whitehall worked as a film reporter for The Universe, a weekly Catholic newspaper. Both his father and grandfather were commercial travellers. His education was paid for by his grandfather, who had inherited significant wealth from his cousin, a wool merchant.
Whitehall has produced TV programmes such as Bertie and Elizabeth, Noah's Ark, Element of Doubt, The Good Guys and A Perfect Hero. He represented Judi Dench, Colin Firth, Richard E. Grant, and Leslie Grantham.
He has made guest appearances on various television shows including Countdown, John Bishop's Britain, The Million Pound Drop Live, Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask and Alan Carr: Chatty Man. In 2013, it was announced that he would present a TV chat show for the BBC with his son Jack. The first series of Backchat began airing on BBC Three, starting on 20 November 2013 but has since moved to BBC Two. In 2017, he co-presented Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father, a travel documentary/road trip through Southeast Asia with his son on Netflix. In 2018, Travels had a second series where they visited several countries in Eastern Europe. In 2019, Travels had a third, two-episode series where they visited, California, Arizona, and Nevada in the USA. In 2020, Travels had a fourth, two-episode series where they visited Australia. In 2021, Travels has a fifth, three-episode series where they traveled around the U.K. This series would go on to be the final series of the show. In 2019, Michael appeared in the programme Who Do You Think You Are? (UK TV series) along with his son Jack to discover his heritage.
Whitehall's first book was Shark Infested Waters: Tales of an Actors' Agent, and his son Jack illustrated it. The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) called the book "a most entertaining memoir" that was "wittily illustrated". In October 2013, he released his second book Him & Me, which was co-written with his son. Written in two distinctive styles, it reflects the different personalities of its authors.
