In addition, he also presented horse racing and was a regular on BBC quiz show A Question of Sport.

He then beat Tony Knowles in the next round before losing to Steve Davis in the semi-finals on a deciding frame.

[11][12] Parrott qualified for the World Snooker Championship on the first attempt, losing only three frames in qualification.

[18] Parrott won his first ranking title at the 1989 European Open, defeating Terry Griffiths in the final 9‍–‍8.

[21] He finished the season at the 1990 World Snooker Championship losing in the semi-final 11‍–‍16 to Hendry.

Defeating Nigel Gilbert, Tony Knowles, Griffiths and Davis, he played Jimmy White in the final.

[35] Parrott would, however, win the European Open the following season with a victory in the final over Peter Ebdon.

[36] The same season, Parrott won the 1995 Thailand Classic for the third time, defeating Nigel Bond in the final.

[40] He was also the first player to conduct a "whitewash" in the Crucible World Championship final stages, when he defeated Eddie Charlton 10–0 in the first round of the 1992 tournament.

[41] For 27 years, he held the record for being the only player ever to achieve this, until Shaun Murphy defeated China's Luo Honghao 10–0 in the first round of the 2019 World Championship.

[42] Following his 6–10 defeat to young Chinese player Zhang Anda in the 2010 World Championship Qualifiers, Parrott finished outside the top 64 in the end of season rankings and was not assured a place on the main tour for the 2010–11 season.

[44] Parrott played in the 2011 World Seniors Championship, where he lost in the semi-finals to Davis.

[47] In their 2005 book Masters of the Baize, Luke Williams and Paul Gadsby described Parrott as a "solid and belligerent player, with a delightfully smooth cue action".

[49] Following his playing career, Parrott became a pundit and commentator on snooker for BBC Sport.

[50] From 1996 to 2002, he was one of the team captains on the BBC quiz show A Question of Sport, alongside association football player Ally McCoist.

[57] Parrott was made the Honorary Patron of the British Crown Green Bowling Association in 2010.