JAN MOIR: Phillip Schofield wasted no time in playing the victim

Phillip Schofield looked much weakened in his BBC interview with Amol Rajan. But despite his dejected and haggard demeanor, he wasted no time establishing his victim credentials.

“Do they want me to die?” he said, speaking of the online and media attention that followed his departure from ITV’s This Morning show. “Because I’m there, I’ve lost everything.”

He shared how his two daughters were on suicide watch and invited viewers to imagine what that must feel like for them. He pretty much said he would have killed himself if it wasn’t for their help when his “biggest, most regrettable secret” got out.

He added that he saw no way out of the darkness: no future, no television bank, nothing.

“And that’s how Caroline Flack felt,” he said, which felt like a step too far down the path of penance and into the city of self-pity.

Three years ago, the Love Island TV presenter, who was known to have mental health issues, committed suicide before facing trial for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend. For Schofield to compare himself to her was extremely distasteful. But here he is, by his own light, a man with nothing left to lose.

The setup for the 44-minute interview was sombre, formal and so serious that Rajan even wore a jacket and tie. There was a lot to unpack, including the timeline of Schofield’s sexual relationship with his younger colleague, the alleged toxicity and harassment in the This Morning workplace, and who knew what, when and how.

Schofield often had to pause to collect his emotions and occasionally looked on the verge of tears, but his voice was clear and his demeanor purposeful. Unsurprisingly, his version of events was a much more lukewarm account than the recent torrid testimonies of former colleagues and friends.

He downgraded the relationship at the center of the scandal to a “fling at work” and “a moment in the locker room when something happened.” He was vague about numbers. During the course of the affair, these moments only occurred “four or five times,” but he later changed this to “five or six.” His friend was 20 when it happened, he later said he was ’20, 21′.

He repeated the word “consensual” several times, but never referred directly to sex, only “it.” And he refused to answer when asked by Rajan if he’d ever had any other homosexual relationships, even though it might have helped clear things up.

It would also have been enlightening to know if Schofield had mentored other young people or landed a job in television, but this crucial question was not asked.

The former BBC media editor apologized for the prudish nature of some of his questions, while both men were protective and respectful of the young man in question.

“Obviously … he was an immensely talented and capable young man,” Amol said. “Extremely talented, yes,” Phil said. Moments later, Schofield was asked, “Did you love him?” “No,” he replied. “We were just buddies. Just friends.’

“And this is how Caroline Flack felt,” he said, which felt like a step too far down the path of remorse and into the city of self-pity.

Schofield often had to pause to collect his emotions and occasionally looked on the verge of tears, but his voice was clear and his demeanor purposeful

Could that be true? And if that was all, you wonder why This Morning went into a meltdown and how to explain the huge uproar that ensued; not to mention the hurt feelings, the workplace fights, the no-speak Holly, the irate wife, the sudden resignation, and now the outside scrutiny. It makes no sense, although Phillip has a theory.

“A very prominent public figure called me to say, ‘I’ve never seen such homophobia in my life,'” he told Rajan, which was a good PR pushback. But was it true?

For this to be believable, we would have to believe that if Schofield had befriended a 15-year-old schoolgirl, kept in touch with her, got her a job as his assistant on This Morning when she was still in her teens, had sex with had had her when she was ’20, 21′ – and then lied about their relationship with his bosses and his wife – wouldn’t it have been a scandal? M’lud, I beg to argue that it would still be very bad.

During the interview, Schofield repeatedly said everything was his fault, covertly spreading the blame like cracked icing on a crumbling cake. Homophobia, the media, sly references to people like Eamonn Holmes.

“All I see is angry people screaming about shows they’re not on anymore,” he said in an admirable bitch. It was noticeable that he was much more apologetic to the young man than to his wife. “He’s most sorry,” he said.

He even talked about how horrible it was to tell his wife the truth. “Oh my god, can you imagine how difficult that conversation was? It was the incredibly hardest conversation I’ve ever had with her,’ he said in an ashen gray voice.

When the neatly conducted interview came to an end, people were left with the suspicion that it might be much more difficult for her.