ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall today admitted she failed to investigate Phillip Schofield’s affair with a younger lover and told MPs the broadcaster is paying for the star’s counselling.
The chief executive is among three broadcast bosses being grilled by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the wake of the presenter’s departure after admitting to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger male colleague.
Schofield’s lover, referred to during the hearing as ‘Person X’, denied the relationship with the former host of This Morning ’12 times’ when quizzed, while Schofield was still lying to bosses just days before the scandal erupted, the committee heard.
Dame Carolyn told MPs the ‘imbalance of power, the imbalance of dynamics’ made the relationship ‘deeply inappropriate’, and ITV would have taken action, but no evidence of the relationship appeared during on-going reviews.
She said ‘we were repeatedly told nothing was happening’, and both men denied it ‘both formally and informally’.
Dame Carolyn McCall (middle), managing director of media and entertainment Kevin Lygo (left) and general counsel and company secretary Kyla Mullins (right) give evidence
Schofield (pictured during his BBC interview) was axed by ITV after admitting to an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a younger male colleague
Schofield, pictured with the younger male colleague and This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby
‘There was only hearsay and rumour and speculation… Nobody on the board would have turned a blind eye to something as serious as this,’ she said.
Addressing accusations from a number of former ITV stars that the affair was widely known about, Dame Carolyn said: ‘The people who said they knew would only have heard rumours about it.
‘If one of the individuals had come to us and said there is evidence that there is a relationship between Phillip Schofield and Person X, with evidence we would have been able to launch a formal investigation.’
Meanwhile, Kevin Lygo, the broadcaster’s managing director of media and entertainment, revealed Schofield was still lying about the affair just moments before it became public.
‘Three or four days before he said ‘actually, sorry, I’ve been lying all this time’, he looked me in the eye and promised me there was absolutely no truth whatesover in rumours of this relationship,’ he said.
Mr Lygo confirmed that Schofield wasn’t sacked by ITV, and that the star resigned himself.
Asked if his departure took him by surprise, the managing director told MPs: ‘Yes, it was completely due to the fact he had lied to us all this time and he realised, I think, it would be untenable to work with all these people he had been lying to.
‘I didn’t have to make the decision about removing him because he chose to step down and said I’m leaving media completely.
‘But certainly he felt he couldn’t expect us to carry on employing him after he lied about such an important issue.’
Dame Carolyn confirmed Schofield is ‘receiving counselling’ since his exit and she is ‘very concerned’ about his welfare.
She also confirmed there is ‘no gagging order or NDA’ to stop the younger lover speaking out about the situation.
Mr Lygo also told the hearing of discussions he had with Schofield before he publicly came out as gay live on air.
He said he asked the star: ‘Is there anything you want to tell me or we should know that has prompted this or you want to share with us?
‘We don’t want to suddenly tomorrow to hear something we didn’t know and be blindsided by it.’
Dame Carolyn told MPs the ‘imbalance of power, the imbalance of dynamics’ made the relationship ‘deeply inappropriate’, and ITV would have taken action, but no evidence of the relationship appeared during on-going reviews
Dame Carolyn McCall (pictured arriving at Portcullis House in Westminster) is appearing before a parliamentary committee today to face questions over Phillip Schofield’s exit from This Morning
Dame Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive at ITV, arrives at Portcullis House in Westminster ahead of a Culture, Media and Sport Committee in to the work of ITV.
Kevin Lygo Managing Director, Media and Entertainment at ITV (left) and Kyla Mullins, General Counsel and Company Secretary at ITV (right), arrive at Portcullis House in Westminster
The hearing comes after the chief executive wrote a letter to culture secretary Lucy Frazer, DCMS Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage and Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, to confirm ITV had instructed a barrister to carry out an external review of the facts after the scandal emerged.
Schofield’s relationship took place while the TV star was still married to wife Stephanie Lowe and before he came out publicly as gay.
The letter said ITV records show that ‘when rumours of a relationship between Phillip Schofield and an employee of ITV first began to circulate’ both parties ‘denied’ it and this was reiterated ‘as recently as this month’.
Since Schofield’s resignation, This Morning has been plagued with allegations of ‘toxicity’.
The show’s former resident doctor, Dr Ranj Singh, hit out at a ‘toxic’ culture, saying he raised concerns about ‘bullying and discrimination’ two years ago when he worked there – and afterwards felt like he was ‘managed out’ for whistleblowing.
In her letter, Dame Carolyn said that an external review conducted following a complaint made by Dr Ranj found ‘no evidence of bullying or discrimination’.
Meanwhile Eamonn Holmes, who presented This Morning on Fridays with wife Ruth Langsford until 2020, accused Schofield of ‘toxicity’ in an interview with Dan Wootton on GB News.
Last week Magnus Brooke, group director of strategy, policy and regulation at ITV, was questioned about This Morning at a Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing about the draft Media Bill.
Earlier in the session, committee chairwoman Dame Caroline said MPs would not be addressing the issues around former presenter Schofield leaving the show, with Dame Carolyn appearing in a separate session on Wednesday morning to face questions on the broadcaster’s approach to safeguarding and complaint handling.
Meanwhile, Dame Carolyn is facing further questions about investigations into the channel’s treatment of reality stars after a former X Factor contestant claimed the chief executive refused her request to launch a probe.
Rebecca Ferguson says Dame Carolyn fobbed her off to her deputy after the singer wrote to the broadcaster on March 11, 2021, asking it to look into the codes of conduct and post-show aftercare of programmes such as the X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and Love Island.
Ms Ferguson says she had spoken to numerous former ITV talents who shared their difficult experiences with her, and the letter came after three Love Island stars including host Caroline Flack had taken their own lives.
The singer, 36, also asked Dame Carolyn to investigate which management companies ITV placed the stars with after the shows.
But Dame Carolyn did not reply to the Liverpool-born singer’s request. Instead, nearly two weeks later, the broadcaster’s chief operating officer Sarah Clarke wrote to Ms Ferguson saying the channel would not launch any kind of inquiry.
