May 28, 2023 2:13 PM BST
Updated 1 hour ago
‘This Morning’ airs as usual on Monday and there are ‘no plans’ to scrap it, ITV has said, amid questions about Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger male colleague.
He left ITV saying the relationship was “unwise but not illegal”.
The broadcaster said it investigated in 2020 but found no evidence of the affair beyond “rumors.”
Both Schofield and the younger colleague “categorically and repeatedly denied” the rumors at the time, ITV added.
Lawyers representing Schofield confirmed to the BBC on Sunday that the two met when the younger colleague was a 15-year-old boy.
They stressed that no sexual relationship of any kind existed between Schofield and the person until he began work on This Morning.
He was 18 years old when he joined the program.
The Mail on Sunday first reported that the two met while the presenter was giving a lecture at a drama school the 15-year-old attended.
Schofield later arranged an interview for him at ITV before he started there and “some time later” the affair began, the newspaper said.
Former ITV presenters Eamonn Holmes and Dan Wootton said the confirmation of the affair raises questions about how much the channel’s executives knew about the relationship.
ITV did not reply to the BBC when asked about a Sunday People report that some day workers would go to HR next week and threaten a mass strike over a series of “ignored complaints”.
An ITV spokesman said on Sunday: “As we put on record yesterday, This Morning is not under review and there are no plans to cancel the show.”
They confirmed things would return to normal on Monday with Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary hosting.
Schofield left This Morning last weekend after reports of a falling out with co-star Holly Willoughby.
She said on Saturday it was “very hurtful” to learn that her former co-host lied to her about his affair.
“When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if that was true and was told it wasn’t,” she said.
Willoughby is on an “extended half-time break” until June 5.
On Sunday, former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said ITV had questions to answer.
She told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that there seemed to be a consensus that everything would move on after Schofield’s “creeping apology”.
“I’m afraid that’s not the case, because questions are being asked about what happened.”
“We know that complaints have been made to ITV over a long period of time – what happened to those complaints?”
She continued: “And how did this little boy get a job at ITV – what processes did that involve and what protective processes were there for someone so young at that age?”
Responding to Ms Dorries’ reference to the staff member as “young”, an ITV spokesman said: “We do not employ anyone under the age of 18 for paid production work on This Morning or ITV.”
dr Ranj Singh, who worked for This Morning for a decade and left the show two years ago, has criticized the program’s broader culture, saying the themes “go far beyond Schofield”.
Taking to Twitter, he said he “didn’t know the truth about what’s going on with Phillip,” but added, “It takes more than one person to create a culture.”
Schofield resigned from ITV on Friday after admitting he was having an affair with the man.
He said he “met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help get him into television,” and described the subsequent relationship as “unwise but not illegal.”
In a statement to the Chron on Friday, he said: “I was in an on-and-off consensual relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.”
At that time he was still married to his wife Stephanie Lowe. They split in 2020 after he came out as gay.
Schofield said he was “very, very sorry” for having been unfaithful to his wife and for lying to his colleagues, agents, employers, friends, the media, the public and his family about the relationship.