Emmerdale AXES an appearance by Phillip Schofield from a historic episode after he resigned from ITV following affair scandal

Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed that Phillip Schofield has been removed from a special episode of Emmerdale after it was rebroadcast on ITV3 last week.

The This Morning star previously made a cameo in a 2005 episode alongside Fern Britton, where they interviewed the soap’s character Alan Turner.

But when viewers tuned in to a repeat of the episode, they noticed that the episode had been re-edited to remove most of Phillip’s scenes, amid fallout from the scandal that ended his decades-long broadcasting career.

It comes just days after it was revealed he paid his much younger lover to keep quiet about their relationship.

In the episode, Phillip and Fern appeared as themselves while interviewing Alan about the disappearance of his then partner, Shelley Williams.

The This Morning star previously made a cameo in an episode alongside Fern Britton in 2005, but now most of his scenes have been removed

Phillip wore a purple shirt throughout the episode, but in the edited version, only his arm was visible in the scenes and his face was covered by a TV monitor.

Several viewers noticed the change, with one tweeting: “Um, did Phillip Schofield just get cut from #ClassicEmmerdale?”

Another wrote: ‘Wondering how they would manage wearing #philipschofield. But I’m really impressed with the clever editing.

“Note how they got to the break after Fern asked the first question. Schofield must have said something afterwards and they decided it would be better not to show it at all.’

MailOnline has contacted an Emmerdale representative for comment.

It was revealed on Sunday that Phillip paid his former colleague, who is 34 years his junior, a six-figure sum to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that prevents him from talking about their affair.

Schofield has been in the wilderness since he admitted the affair and lied to his ITV employers in an extraordinary mea culpa to the Mail last May.

A lawyer acting for the former This Morning presenter has now confirmed that a deal was signed with his former lover last year, including a ‘mutual confidentiality clause’ and a payment to compensate the man for the losses suffered.

The man was just 15 when he met Schofield, who helped him land a coveted job as a runner on This Morning at the age of 19.

Several viewers noted that Phillip was left out of the episode, in the wake of his dismissal from ITV in May

It comes just days after it was revealed he paid his much younger lover to keep quiet about their relationship

A romantic relationship between the pair began when the man was in his 20s, after which he moved to another ITV daytime show, Loose Women. He later left the channel with a separate payout.

Despite the clause preventing either party from talking about the affair, Schofield revealed intimate details of their relationship when interviewed by the BBC’s Amol Rajan last June.

A source familiar with the NDA told The Mail on Sunday: “The young man has been vulnerable for some time. That’s no secret.

“Several matters were paid for following Phillip’s decision to speak out about his relationship and as part of this a non-disclosure agreement was drawn up and signed.

‘It means Phil knows his young ex will never be able to talk about their relationships again, which means he can probably sleep a lot better now.

‘He (Schofield) has lost a lot, but imagine if the full details were to become known – that would be quite disastrous for him.

‘As for the young man, let’s hope he can now move on with his life and rebuild it – but that’s not easy.

‘And it’s a bit of an exaggeration to present an NDA after Phil had his say at the BBC last year.’

The man – only referred to as Person

In the BBC interview, Schofield insisted he had not groomed the young man after meeting him at a drama school.

Admitting he was ‘utterly heartbroken and ashamed’, he added: ‘We were friends, and then one day something happened in my dressing room that I will obviously regret forever, for him and for me – especially him – but that happened. maybe four or five times in the next few months.

“I know it’s unforgivable. But we weren’t friends. We weren’t in a relationship. I was really struggling with my own sexuality at the time, and it just happened.”

Schofield also said the man got his role on This Morning ‘on his own merit… because he was very good at his job’. He added: ‘Everyone loved him. He worked very hard.’

The former Dancing On Ice host took part in the interview after confessing to the affair he carried on behind his wife Stephanie Lowe’s back.

Phillip’s former colleague, 34 years his junior, signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in exchange for the payment, preventing him from talking about the scandal that shamefully ended the host’s decades-long TV career last year.

In his impressive statement to the Ny Breaking, Schofield described the relationship as ‘ill-advised but not illegal’, while admitting that he had lied to his colleagues, his friends and his agents at the management firm YMU.

In the statement he said: ‘I am making this statement through the Ny Breaking, to whom I have already personally apologized for misleading, through my lawyer whom I also misled, about a story they made about me a few days ago wanted to write. .

‘The first thing I want to say is: I am deeply sorry that I lied to them, and many others, about a relationship I had with someone who worked on This Morning.

‘I did have a consensual on-off relationship with a younger male colleague at This Morning.

“Contrary to speculation, while I met the man when he was a teenager and was asked to help him get on television, it wasn’t until he started working on the show that it became more than just a friendship.

‘That relationship was unwise, but not illegal. It’s over now.’

The young man, now 27, declined to comment on the deal or its details.