Employees working on This Morning fear the show will be taken off the air after Phillip Schofield confesses to having an affair with a young colleague and lied about it.
Insiders say there are concerns that the embattled daytime show needs to be “rested” for a while, or even revamped with a new name, fearing viewers will no longer trust the show.
A source said: “The show is an institution, but it has been badly damaged by all this. Lies have been told and that has undermined everything the public tunes into. There is genuine concern that it could be off the air for some time.”
The channel’s senior bosses are coming under increasing pressure to declare who knew what when about Schofield and his relationship with the production assistant, after it emerged they had previously launched an investigation into rumors of an affair.
That was in 2020 when, ITV points out, both men denied being in a relationship.
Staff working on This Morning fear the show will be taken off the air after Phillip Schofield (left) confesses to having an affair with a young colleague and lied about it
Dame Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV, during a session at the Royal Television Society London Convention 2022
Kevin Lygo (left), Director of Television ITV, and Sky News presenter Kay Burley (right), at the Edinburgh TV Festival, on August 23, 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland
Fiona Phillips (left) and This Morning editor Martin Frizell (right) attend the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards in partnership with TSB at The Grosvenor House Hotel on October 31, 2016 in London, England
The broadcaster’s CEO Carolyn McCall, television director Kevin Lygo, daytime chief Emma Gormley and This Morning editor Martin Frizell insist they have also been lied to by the presenter.
Ms McCall’s chief of communications, Paul Moore, was also involved in investigating the situation.
No one knew that Schofield had left ITV on Friday night until they read the statement he issued to the Daily Mail in which he admitted he had lied about the relationship.
It has now also been alleged that a star from another ITV show had formally complained to management about how the junior staff member had been treated.
Other employees are outraged and concerned that they are “dealing with the very real consequences of Schofield’s tangled professional and personal life.”
One said, ‘We love [the production assistant] but he is very restless now. What if he can’t handle it?’
Another source at the channel said: ‘It’s quite hard to believe that none of the top bosses knew anything. It’s been rumored on ITV for a while.’
Meanwhile, Schofield’s former colleague Eamonn Holmes – who was left furious when he was fired from This Morning in November 2021 – took to social media to make a series of accusations, suggesting station bosses knew about claims against Schofield and “never took action undertook’.
Ms Gormley, who oversees This Morning, is said to have had a close working relationship with Schofield and Mr Lygo is also said to be close to the fallen star.
But last week sources said This Morning’s editor, Mr Frizell, was ‘tired of cleaning up Schofield’s mess’.
ITV issued a strong reply yesterday, insisting they had been lied to for years by their former golden boy.
A spokeswoman said: ‘ITV can confirm that when rumors of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an ITV employee first circulated in early 2020, ITV launched an investigation.
Both sides were questioned and both categorically and repeatedly denied the rumors, as did Phillip’s then agency YMU.
‘Additionally, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning who were not given any evidence of a relationship beyond rumor and rumor.
Phillip’s statement on Friday shows that he has lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and others about this relationship.”
Another insider told The Mail on Sunday that some bosses fear the scandal will have a negative effect on ITV’s share price when the stock market opens after the holiday on Tuesday.
They said, “The investor relations team is on their nerves, they’re worried that all this could have consequences.”