Phillip Schofield #

Introduction #

Phillip Schofield, one of Britain’s most recognisable television presenters and the longtime host of ITV’s daytime programme This Morning, resigned from ITV with immediate effect on May 26, 2023, after admitting that he had lied about a consensual on-off affair with a much younger male colleague on the show. In a statement issued via the Daily Mail, the 61-year-old described the relationship as “unwise, but not illegal,” apologised for lying to his employers, colleagues, agents, the media and the public, and said he was stepping down from the British Soap Awards, his last public commitment.

Background Information #

Schofield was born on April 1, 1962, in Oldham and moved to Newquay, Cornwall, at the age of eighteen months. He began in media at 17 as a bookings clerk and tea boy for BBC Radio at Broadcasting House, later moving with his family to New Zealand, where he made his television debut presenting the youth music programme Shazam! In 1985 he returned to Britain and became the first in-vision continuity presenter for Children’s BBC in “The Broom Cupboard,” a slot that also made a star of the puppet Gordon the Gopher, and he presented the Saturday morning show Going Live! from 1987 to 1993.

Schofield joined This Morning in 2002, initially co-presenting with John Leslie and Fern Britton before becoming Britton’s permanent co-host after Leslie stepped aside, and Holly Willoughby replaced Britton in 2009. Over the years he also presented Dancing on Ice and the British Soap Awards, among many other programmes. He married Stephanie Lowe in March 1993, with whom he has two daughters, and in February 2020 he came out as gay in a statement posted to Instagram; he and Lowe separated that year. He was still married to Lowe at the time of the relationship.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Schofield presented This Morning for the last time on May 18, 2023, after more than 20 years in the role, and two days later announced his departure from the programme with immediate effect. His exit followed reports of a rift with co-host Willoughby and months of online speculation about his personal relationships.

On May 26, Schofield admitted in a statement to the Daily Mail that he had carried on a consensual on-off affair with a younger male colleague at This Morning and had lied to cover it up. He said he met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him get into television, but that the relationship became more than a friendship only after the colleague started working on the show. He called the relationship “unwise, but not illegal,” said he was “so, very, very sorry” for being unfaithful to his wife and for lying to his colleagues, employers, agents, friends, the media and the public, and announced that he was resigning from ITV with immediate effect.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

An ITV spokesperson said the network was “deeply disappointed by the admissions of deceit” and confirmed it had cut all ties with Schofield, adding: “Phillip made assurances to us which he now acknowledges were untrue and we feel badly let down.” ITV said he would no longer present the British Soap Awards the following month and would not front a new prime-time series the network had been developing with him. His talent agency YMU cut ties with him after representing him for 35 years, with the firm’s chief executive saying it had learned information that contradicted what Schofield had previously told it. The Prince’s Trust also announced that it would no longer feature him as an ambassador.

The affair and his departure received extensive coverage in the British media, with some public figures defending him and former ITV daytime presenters such as Eamonn Holmes suggesting the network had questions to answer about what its managers knew. When Willoughby returned to This Morning on June 5, she said she felt “shaken, troubled and let down” by the deception. In interviews the following month, Schofield said his career was over, that he had “lost everything” and felt “utterly broken,” and denied suggestions that he had groomed the colleague.

Current Status #

After his resignation, ITV severed all ties with Schofield and instructed a King’s Counsel to carry out an external review of the network’s handling of the affair. In October 2023, ITV introduced a policy requiring all workers at the network to disclose personal relationships with colleagues, with failure to comply potentially resulting in disciplinary action, including termination of employment. Jane McDonald replaced Schofield as host of the British Soap Awards, and Willoughby herself left This Morning five months after his departure.

After a 16-month break from public life, Schofield returned to television in September 2024 on Channel 5’s reality show Cast Away, in which he was left alone on an island for 10 days filming himself; the first episode prompted mixed reactions, and he suggested the series would be his last television appearance.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The scandal cost Schofield the ITV career he had built over more than two decades, ended his 35-year relationship with his management, and led to his removal as a Prince’s Trust ambassador, while the wine brand When in Rome stopped selling his range of wines, saying the collaboration had “drawn to a natural conclusion.” His departure also drew scrutiny onto ITV itself, prompting the external review of the network’s handling of the relationship and new rules on workplace relationships.

The affair came in the same year that Schofield’s brother, Timothy Schofield, was found guilty of sexual offences against a teenage boy and jailed for 12 years. After the scandal, Schofield said in interviews that he had “lost everything,” and his own description of meeting the colleague when he was a teenager and helping him into television continued to draw criticism long after his resignation.