Richard Madeley calls Phillip Schofield’s This Morning exit ‘pretty savage’ and ‘brutal’ as he reveals what old pal said about sudden resignation

Richard Madeley has called Phillip Schofield’s sudden departure from This Morning ‘brutal’.

Phil, 61, resigned from his role as host in May after 21 years after having an “ill-advised but not illegal” affair with a young male runner.

Richard, 67, who presented the daytime program with his wife Judy from 1988 to 2001, has been embroiled in drama and has revealed he has been in contact with Phillip after his dismissal.

‘I feel very sorry for Phillip; it seemed like a pretty cruel outcome after 21 years (in this job). It seemed quite cruel to me, to be honest,” Richard said The sun.

‘I took a fatherly interest in it, I kept in touch and told him to take it easy and it would be fine. He agreed. All things pass in the end.

‘We’ve all been through terrible experiences and the worst are the phones coming out of a clear blue sky and you don’t see them coming. Politicians say they are one debate away from catastrophe and it is the same in our industry.”

When asked if he would ever sit on the bench, Richard said he “enjoyed it, but would never go back.”

MailOnline has contacted ITV for comment.

There has been speculation about who will take over Phillip’s role as co-host on ITV’s flagship daytime programme.

ITV bosses have been trying to find Holly, 42, a more permanent sidekick, with Alison Hammond, Dermot O’Leary, Rylan Clarke and Josie Gibson also vying for the role.

But management are reportedly paying attention to Good Morning Britain presenter Ben Shephard, who impressed when he appeared on the This Morning sofa last week.

Sources say Ben, 48, is the ‘front runner’ to replace Phillip in the role after stepping in earlier this week.

Ben, who was previously a stand-in presenter on This Morning and reported for Schofield between 2005 and 2011, impressed the network’s senior executives when he appeared on the show.

Initially This Morning was going to be built around Holly with rotating co-hosts, like GMB is with Susanna Reid, but now the bosses have changed their minds and want someone they can work with most days.

A source told the Mail: ‘Ben did really well and bosses loved working with Holly and there was great feedback from many viewers.

‘Ben is known at ITV as being very popular with the audiences of the shows he presents. He is also trusted by the public and is much loved within ITV. He has hosted so many shows for the channel.

‘He and Holly go back years too – he presented on This Morning a few years ago and they have a good relationship.’

Last month it was revealed that the This Morning scandal could be turned into a ‘stunning’ drama series.

The production company behind the series believes Channel 4 would be a ‘perfect fit’, a source told The Sun.

They said: ‘The storyline will reflect what happened. People saw it from the outside, but the drama will give a perspective on what may have happened behind closed doors.”

The shamed star quit presenting the daytime show after 21 years when he admitted he repeatedly lied to bosses about an affair with a runner.

Phillip – who called the relationship ‘unwise, but not illegal’ – cheated on his wife Stephanie with the young male colleague.

The arrangement was kept secret for years until he admitted to The Mail on Sunday that he had lied about it being just rumours.

He further admitted to misleading his employer ITV, his colleagues, his friends and his then agents at the management firm YMU.

In an extraordinary series of interviews, he apologized for all the pain he had caused.

It caused an extraordinary knock-on effect for the show and ITV, with Holly having to make a statement saying she knew nothing about it.

But Phillip insisted he had not ‘groomed’ the man, despite first meeting him when he was 15.

And he further stated, “Attraction is attraction. In the gay world it is no different than in the heterosexual world or the lesbian world.

‘There shouldn’t be any difference. This is where homophobia comes into play.

“We first met when he was 15, I attended drama school (he was there).”

In a deeply emotional interview with the BBC’s Amol Rajan, Schofield said his two daughters – Molly, 29, and Ruby, 27 – had saved his life.

He said the fallout from his admission that he had lied about his affair with a younger male colleague had been “brutal”, revealing he had had suicidal thoughts.

Schofield said: “My girls saved my life. They said last week that they never left me for a moment. They are by my side every moment because they are afraid to lose sight of me. What is it like for daughters to have to deal with something like that?

“And they said to me, ‘Don’t you dare do this under our watch.’ We have to take care of you.” If it wasn’t for my girls, I wouldn’t be here because I don’t see my future.”