'ITV was decisive factor in Phillip Schofield's downfall,' expert claims
Phillip Scofield reigned as the king of daytime TV for more than 20 years thanks to his coveted role as the face of ITV's This Morning alongside pal Holly Willoughby.
But following his dramatic exit earlier this year, after the presenter admitted to having an 'unwise but not illegal affair' with a younger colleague, turmoil followed, and the programme was met with 'toxicity' claims.
Phillip at the time insisted there was no such thing but an investigation followed - with results published today. While Phillip told his social media followers that the show was "the best to work on with the best people", a reputational damage expert argues that ITV was one of the decisive factors in Schofield's downfall.
PR expert Edward Coram-James believes ITV and Holly Willoughby were 'decisive factors' in Phil's downfall (Go Up)
Edward says Phil's inner circle 'threw him under the bus' and believes his affair was 'inappropriate but not anyone's business aside from his wife' (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Following the scandal, ITV instructed a lawyer to look into how the affair and Phil's exit was handled. The findings say ITV made "considerable efforts" to find out the truth about an alleged relationship between Phillip Schofield and a runner on This Morning in 2019 but was "unable to uncover the relevant evidence" until Schofield's admission in late May 2023. The report reveals that Phillip "reluctantly declined" to take part in an interview with Jane Mulcahy KC, the lawyer instructed to carry out the review, due to his health.
Phillip's public admission and following fallout with ITV and best pal Holly saw the disgraced presenter walk from the channel altogether. In a statement on departing from This Morning, in which he failed to mention his co-host, Phil announced: "I have always been proud to cover fascinating stories on This Morning. But recently, This Morning itself has become the story. Throughout my career in TV – including the very difficult last few days – I have always done my best to be honourable and kind. I understand that ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love. So I have agreed to step down from This Morning with immediate effect, in the hope that the show can move forward to a bright future."
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In a shocking statement, Phillip then admitted to having an affair while he was still married to his now ex-wife Stephanie Lowe. He shared: "The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry for having lied to them, and to many others about a relationship that I had with someone working on This Morning. I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning."
"I am painfully conscious that I have lied to my employers at ITV, to my colleagues and friends, to my agents, to the media and therefore the public and most importantly of all to my family. I am so very, very sorry, as I am for having been unfaithful to my wife...," he continued in a statement released to the Daily Mail.
Phil added: "I have therefore decided to step down from the British Soap Awards, my last public commitment, and am resigning from ITV with immediate effect expressing my immense gratitude to them for all the amazing opportunities that they have given me. I will reflect on my very bad judgement in both participating in the relationship and then lying about it." Phillip claimed he covered up the fling for years in a bid to "protect" his former colleague as he insisted the relationship was "unwise" but not "illegal".
As the star confirmed his affair, he agreed to part ways with his management company of 35 years, YMU Group. While ITV at the time told the Mirror that when rumours began to swirl between Phil and an ITV employee in 2020, they investigated the matter. "Both parties were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours as did Phillip's then agency YMU," they said. "In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour. Phillip's statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship."
Following the news of the affair, Holly took to Instagram to share a statement. She wrote: "It's taken time to process yesterday's news. When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It's been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie."
A new investigation into ITV found the broadcaster made 'considerable efforts' to find out the truth about Phil's alleged relationship but was 'unable to uncover the relevant evidence' (Alamy/PA)PR and reputation management expert Edward Coram-James, from Go Up, believes that ITV and best pal Holly "threw Phillip under the bus". In August, Ed told the Mirror he believed there was a degree of homophobia with the public outcry following Phil's public admission. But what didn't help was those around him, he says, with Holly admitting on national TV that she had been left "shaken, troubled, let down and worried" amid the scandal. "You only have to look at the fallout from the Schofield saga and the double standards in terms of society's response to, say, Huw Edwards, to see that Schofield had every reason to fear the potential for unfair and inflated scrutiny of his private life..." Ed continued.
"He was also a well-loved and famous television personality, and thus even more open to unbalanced criticism. Most ordinary folk would have lied about having an affair, and he had much more to lose in his affair than most ordinary folk. He was abandoned and thrown under the bus by his protegee and friend, Willoughby, abandoned by his employers, fired by the talent agency that he had remained loyal to… was the affair inappropriate? Yes. Affairs are always inappropriate. Aside from his wife, his younger colleague and himself, was it anyone else's business? In my opinion, absolutely not."
Speaking of the immediate response from ITV and others, Ed claimed: "They panicked and released erratic and ill-considered statements that fanned the flames of confusion, allowing rumour and gossip to take hold and the media and social media to own the narrative. His inner circle deserted him, and indeed threw him under the bus. I don't believe that, from a crisis comms point of view, there was any good reason for Willoughby not to close ranks around her old friend and mentor. Doing so would have had a cooling effect." He added: "ITV and Willoughby's handling of the Schofield saga was, in my opinion, the decisive factor in his downfall."
In his area of work, Edward says any unfolding incidents should be ranked out of 10 before justifying the scale of public response. If a crisis is 5/10 on the severity scale, then it warrants a 5/10 response, but if PRs respond with a 3/10, then the client runs the risk of avoiding accountability. But it works both ways in that if a celebrity and their team respond to the same allegation with a 7/10, then it encourages the public to view the incident as a bigger deal than it is.
Edward says there are a number of rules to follow in crisis communications to limit any unjustified spirals. Releasing statements in the first 24 hours can set the tone, he says, with mistakes made in that 'golden period' hard to come back from. Secondly, synchronisation is of the utmost importance to avoid confusion and the narrative running away from the facts of the story, which can lead to unnecessary inflation.
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"Thirdly, match your response to the scale of the crisis, not to the scale of the outcry," the expert added. "Fourthly, humanise the principal. Flind and Martin released calm and cooling statements. By reminding the public of the various personal struggles involved, they humanised the principals - this immediately deescalated matters. Panic breeds more panic and crisis feeds off panic. Calm creates calm and crises are defused by calm."
ITV and Holly Willougby were approached for comment.
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