Former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield has blamed his brother for his departure from ITV, saying he was “fired because of someone else’s crime”.
In the latest episode of Channel 5’s Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, the 62-year-old revealed he would “never in a million years” decide to return to daytime television.
Schofield went on to say that he had always been “open and honest with everyone at work about what happened” with his brother Timothy.
His 54-year-old brother was convicted in April 2023 of eleven sex offenses involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two for sexual activity with a child.
On the Channel 5 show, he said he refused to “name and acknowledge” his brother, who he claimed had “absolutely no qualms about shopping” with police, who he said “praised” him for he had ‘done justice’.
Former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield has blamed his brother for his departure from ITV, saying he was “fired because of someone else’s crime”
His 54-year-old brother (pictured) was convicted in April 2023 of eleven sexual offenses involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two for sexual activity with a child
The Oldham-born presenter said: ‘Despite knowing all the facts, the newspapers portrayed me as some kind of complicit cop.
‘Then my world started to collapse. My poor mother had to tell her about that relative. It’s hard to tell your mother that.
‘And I had to go through everything with the hierarchy at ITV. The whole story, so they knew I had done nothing wrong. The full story.’
He added: “It all came to a head the day before he was sentenced when my agent called.
“My phone rang and I answered it, ‘mate, are you somewhere quiet’, which is never a good sign, ‘I’m a bit shocked, I’m afraid you’ve been let loose from this morning'”. What? “Yes, that it’s, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday.”
‘What? because of what? “Guess it’s the publicity, mate”, that’s got nothing to do with me, that’s got nothing to do with me.
“Why should I be fired because of something someone else did? I just got fired because of him. Because I became more of a story than a program.
‘It was better for the show, better for the channel. And I agreed to say I resigned because that would be neater for everyone.
Schofield went on to say that he had always been “open and honest with everyone at work about what happened” with his brother Timothy.
Schofield is pictured with his brother in 2017, six years before his conviction and prison sentence
Timothy told Phillip that he had committed a sex act and looked at pornography in front of the teen
Philip admitted he had a secret affair with a younger male colleague on ITV show This Morning (pictured on set with Holly Willoughby) but strongly denies the grooming allegations
‘I was always open and honest with everyone at work about what happened to my brother. I was fired because of the bad publicity, because of someone else’s crime.
“And about a week later, I blew my own wheels off with everything else (his affair) because I thought the only way to even make this right for everyone was to do a full-on mea culpa.”
Schofield admitted having a secret affair with a younger male colleague at ITV, but strongly denies the grooming allegations.
Despite claims on the Channel 5 show that he had been axed from This Morning, Schofield claimed when he left the program more than a year ago that he had resigned.
Schofield denied at the time that he had been “forced out” and said he was “deeply sorry” for lying to ITV, his colleagues, wife and friends.
An external investigation, carried out by Jane Mulcahy KC on behalf of ITV, found that the broadcaster made “significant efforts” to find out the truth about an alleged affair between Schofield and a runner in 2019, but could find no evidence to support the rumours.
Schofield “reluctantly” declined to participate in the study due to “the risk to his health,” the December 2023 report said.
Mulcahy said she could find no evidence of a “toxic” culture during the period she reviewed, and urged ITV to help junior employees who feel their views will have a “detrimental impact on their careers”.
At the end of the Channel 5 programme, Schofield said he did not know whether he would return to presenting.
He started to tear up and said, “Now I’m not saying I’m done, but you know, never in a million years will I go back to daytime television.” I’ve lived a hundred TV lives.’
At the end of the programme, Schofield was reunited with his daughter Molly, 31, and their dog, with Molly saying she was “proud to say he’s my dad”.
Phillip Schofield: Cast Away will air on Channel 5 for three nights from Monday 30 September at 9pm and can be streamed on My5.