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ITV hires top lawyer to investigate Phillip Schofield's affair

Phillip Schofield
Phillip Schofield

ITV has instructed a leading employment lawyer to investigate Phillip Schofield’s affair with a young staff member amid claims senior figures tried to cover up the relationship.

Dame Carolyn McCall, the broadcaster’s chief executive, wrote in a letter to the head of Ofcom and Lucy Frazer, the Culture Secretary, that Jane Mulcahy KC will “carry out an external review of the facts”.

Schofield resigned from the broadcaster on Friday and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague.

The 61-year-old will be questioned along with Holly Willoughby, his former This Morning co-presenter, and the young man involved as well as “anyone named, speculated or talked about in the last three days,” a source said, adding:“Anyone within This Morning who wants to talk to the KC is absolutely free to do so”.

ITV employees will be able to come forward “anonymously” and “confidentially” with any other information about the pair’s relationship or anything untoward they witnessed.

“We don’t know what else we don’t know,” the source added.

Over the past week, ITV bosses have faced accusations they orchestrated a “total cover up” of the affair and paid off the young man with a financial settlement after he left the broadcaster in 2021.

It is understood that the man, who has not been identified, did not sign a non-disclosure agreement with the broadcaster.

A source has claimed the man was instead given a “redundancy package” after leaving his job working on the broadcaster’s Loose Women.

The source insisted the payment was not a “special” or “unique” payment but in line with usual practice for ITV employees.

Schofield’s agents at YMU Group, who dropped him after it emerged he lied about having the affair will also be questioned.

The letter, also sent to Dame Caroline Dinenage, chairman of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, is intended to “draw a line” under the controversy.

A ‘lot of inaccuracy’

Dame Carolyn claimed there had been a “lot of inaccuracy” in recent media coverage and stressed ITV had found no evidence of a relationship “beyond hearsay” between the TV runner and Schofield when rumours first arose between late 2019 and early 2020.

The letter goes on to say the broadcaster felt “badly let down” when Schofield admitted to the true nature of the pair’s relationship.

Dame Carolyn wrote: “We consider our approach was reasonable and proportionate at the time and in the circumstances. We believe that we did not have any grounds to mount any other sort of investigation.”

Miss Mulcahy is co-head of Blackstone Chambers in London and specialises in “employee competition, whistleblowing and discrimination”.

Since Schofield’s resignation, This Morning has been plagued by allegations of “toxicity”.

Ranj Singh, the show’s former resident doctor, hit out at the show’s “toxic” culture, saying he had raised concerns about “bullying and discrimination” two years ago when he worked there – and afterwards felt like he was “managed out” for whistleblowing.

In the new letter, ITV said that an external review conducted following a complaint made by Dr Ranj found “no evidence of bullying or discrimination”.

It came after Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, called for an independent inquiry into ITV’s handling of the row, and asked the Government to support an investigation.

Ms Dorries wrote on Twitter:

It came as footage from a showreel filmed by the young man on the This Morning set and featuring Schofield emerged.

Sources told the Mail Online that the reel, reportedly created in 2015 when the young man joined the show as a runner, was “made and paid for by ITV”.

A senior ITV source told the site: “How many runners get access to the cameras, studio and main presenter? I’ll tell you how many: none.”

Friends have said the young man “never made the teas” nor did “boring errands”, but instead tended to hang around with Schofield, 61, and the programme’s celebrity guests.

The revelations will heap further pressure on ITV executives, as they battle to save the flagship show.

The Telegraph can reveal that Schofield’s former lover now works in a remote pub, with his dreams of a television career in ruins.

Friends have told The Telegraph that the man, who was an accomplished youth actor, has been forced to seek work in the hospitality business, recently starting a new job managing a pub bed and breakfast in the north of England, far from his family and friends.

One said: “He was a very prominent personality on This Morning.

“The next step would have been to get on a production team and he was angling towards that.

“He should be having a good career in television now, but because of this he’s not.”

The friend added: “For someone who was determined to be famous it’s quite striking.

“He said he had found work at a remote pub B&B miles away and he hoped his family and friends would visit. He was looking for a room to rent. It’s obviously been a big downfall.”