Phillip Schofield recounts moment he was 'let go' from This Morning
3 October 2024, 08:17
Phillip Schofield has recounted the exact moment his agent informed him that he had been 'let go' from This Morning.
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The axed presenter, who had hosted This Morning for 21 years, blamed his paedophile brother's crimes for his exit during the final episode of his Channel 5 show Cast Away.
Timothy Schofield, 54, was last year found guilty of 11 counts of child sex abuse, for which he was jailed for 12 years.
Before publically admitting to his affair with a young runner on This Morning, Schofield claimed ITV bosses made the decision to axe him following publicity of his brother's trial.
Schofield said he was "fired for someone else’s crime" and was adamant that he was always "open and honest with everyone at work about what was happening" with his brother.
The Oldham-born presenter said: "Even though they knew all of the facts the papers painted me out to be some sort of complicit agent.
"That was when my world started to collapse. My poor mum, had to tell her about that member of the family. To break that to your mother is tough.
"And I had to go through everything with the hierarchy at ITV. The full entire story so that they knew I hadn’t done anything wrong. The full story.
"Everything came to a head the day before he was sentenced when my agent called.
"My phone rang and I picked it up, ‘mate, are you somewhere quiet’ which is never a good sign, ’I’ve got a bit of a shock, I’m afraid you’ve been let go from This Morning’. What? ‘Yeah that’s it, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday'.
"'What? because of what? 'Think it’s the publicity, mate', that’s got nothing to do with me, that has nothing to do with me.
"Why would I be sacked for something someone else did? I’ve just been fired because of him. Because I was becoming more of a story than the programme.
"It was better for the show, better for the channel. And I agreed to say that I’d resigned because it would be neater for everybody.
"I was always open and honest with everyone at work about what was happening with my brother. I was fired for the bad publicity, for someone else’s crime.
"And the thing is about a week later, I blew my own wheels off with everything else (his affair), because I thought the only way to even begin to put this right for everybody is to do a full mea culpa."
Schofield admitted to a secret affair with a younger male colleague at ITV, but strongly denies accusations of grooming.
Despite the claims on the Channel 5 show that he was dropped from This Morning, when leaving the programme more than a year ago, Schofield claimed he had resigned.
At the time Schofield denied he had been "forced out", and said he was "so very, very sorry" for lying to ITV, his colleagues, wife and friends.
An external review, carried out by Jane Mulcahy KC on behalf of ITV found the channel made "considerable efforts" to find out the truth about an alleged affair between Schofield and a runner in 2019, but was not able to find evidence about the rumours.
Schofield "reluctantly declined" to take part in the probe because of "the risk to his health", the report in December 2023 said.
Ms Mulcahy said that for the period she reviewed, she could not find evidence of a "toxic" culture, and urged ITV to help junior employees who think speaking out will have a "detrimental impact on their careers".
