How Phillip Schofield went from children's TV star to ousted This ...
Phillip Schofield’s biographer once described the TV presenter as the “hottest star in Britain today” with a “glorious, uplifting life story”. Schofield, they said, had “triumphed at everything he has done” enabling him to lead a life of “love and passion, weeping and laughter, death, tragedy, and heartstopping joy”.
Those comments were written in 1992 by a young showbiz journalist called Piers Morgan, the author of a now out of print book entitled To Dream a Dream: the Amazing Life of Phillip Schofield. Three decades later both men are mainstays of British television. But while Morgan has built a persona as one of the country’s resident controversialists, Schofield built a career as the cheery face of light entertainment shows – a career that is now under threat thanks to a series of damaging press stories.
Schofield, 61, has been a household name in the UK for most of his life after starting work in the media as a teenager. Raised in Cornwall, he had a short stint as a television presenter in New Zealand before returning as a BBC children’s presenter – appearing on shows such as the Saturday morning programme Going Live! with puppet Gordon the Gopher and being tackled to the ground at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party by Carter USM.
As Schofield’s audience aged, he moved on to more mainstream shows.
He landed at This Morning in 2002 as a temporary presenter following the arrest of then presenter John Leslie, later released without charge. The mid-morning ITV show has a cultural reach that goes far beyond the million or so viewers who tune in to watch its mix of topical discussion, cooking, celebrity, and competitions. Its audience skews heavily female and they are often consumers of online celebrity websites such as MailOnline, creating a feedback loop that drives intensive coverage of its hosts.
Schofield, initially a stand-in presenter, remade the show in his image. Fern Britton, his original co-host, quit the programme in 2009 amid rumours of a rift between the two over issues such as unequal pay. ITV bosses chose to replace Britton with the younger Holly Willoughby, another former children’s television presenter, marking the start of the “Phil and Holly” era.
The pair would regularly go viral for talking points, laughing with chef Gino D’Acampo, and being praised for their chemistry. Sometimes thing would go wrong, such as in 2012 when Schofield presented the then prime minister, David Cameron, with a list he had found on the internet naming politicians alleged to be paedophiles. Schofield told a visibly baffled prime minister that it took him “about three minutes last night to continually find a list of the same names”. He later apologised, as some of the names on the list may have been identifiable to viewers.
As Willoughby’s star rose, her once strong relationship with Schofield started to suffer. One issue behind the scenes was the relationship between the duo’s agents. For many years both presenters were represented by YMU, formerly James Grant management, a talent agency that dominates the British light entertainment sector, with clients such as Ant and Dec and Simon Cowell. In 2020 Willoughby decided to split with the company and start her own agency, Roxy Management – leading to an expensive court case over her earnings. Having different representatives for the two This Morning stars meant their agents could be easily working against each other and briefing the media.
Around the same time Schofield unexpectedly told viewers that, following his long marriage to Stephanie Lowe, he had realised he was gay. He said Holly had been “kind and wise” about the news as he sobbed on her shoulder. His decision to discuss his sexuality on a Friday morning episode of This Morning was followed days later by an exclusive interview in the Sun on Sunday.
The beginning of the end for Schofield and This Morning came with the death of Queen Elizabeth II and “Queuegate”. With tens of thousands of people queueing overnight to file past the deceased monarch’s coffin in Westminster Abbey, Schofield and Willoughby took up an offer available to journalists who wanted to report on proceedings and gain direct access to the venue. What was supposed to be a respectful pilgrimage turned into a public scandal, as members of the public who had waited in line for hours watched as the This Morning presenters walked in a side entrance. With little other news, it became one of the biggest talking points in the country as the visibly uncomfortable pair tried to ignore the topic.
Schofield then had to deal with the public trial of his brother Timothy Schofield. He was jailed last week for sexually abusing a teenage boy. Phillip took a leave of absence from TV during the court case as press reports suggested Willoughby had been blindsided by the trial.
No one is pretending Schofield’s departure from This Morning was his choice. His own statement makes clear that ITV bosses “decided the current situation can’t go on” and given his current contract was already due to expire in September, the real question is whether drawing a line under this is enough to maintain his slots presenting other high-profile ITV shows such as Dancing on Ice, which he co-hosts with Willoughby. All ITV has said is that he will host next month’s British Soap Awards and “a new prime time series”.
When Schofield was interviewed for Morgan’s biography in 1992, the TV presenter was asked about a long-forgotten minor controversy in his career. Schofield gave a straightforward message to his critics: “They can all naff off.” He may be feeling the same today.
