Phillip Schofield: ITV boss denies turning ‘blind eye’ to former This Morning presenter’s ‘deeply inappropriate’ affair
ITV bosses have denied turning “a blind eye” to Phillip Schofield’s “deeply inappropriate” affair with a junior colleague, telling MPs they would have taken action had they been presented with evidence and not “rumours”.
Dame Carolyn McCall, the broadcaster’s chief executive, faced questions on Schofield’s departure from This Morning alongside managing director Kevin Lygo and general counsel Kyla Mullins, during a culture, media and sport committee session in parliament.
They told the hearing that both Schofield and the younger male colleague, referred to as Person X, “repeatedly denied” having a relationship until the presenter’s shock admission in May, and pushed back against claims it was an “open secret” – as made by people including former Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan.
Dame Carolyn said bosses “were repeatedly told nothing was happening”, and both men denied it “both formally and informally”, with Person X being questioned on 12 occasions over a period of time.
“There was only hearsay and rumour and speculation,” ITV’s chief executive said. “Nobody on the board would have turned a blind eye to something as serious as this.”
If evidence had emerged about the relationship, bosses “would have acted very swiftly”, she said.
During the session, the ITV bosses also responded to allegations of a “toxic” environment on ITV’s daytime shows, and faced questions about other issues such as the suicides of Love Island contestants and presenter Caroline Flack, and allegations about “abuse” and “bullying” on The X Factor.
Singer Rebecca Ferguson recently hit out over allegations of ‘abuse’ on The X Factor. Pic: Ken McKay/Talkback Thames/Shutterstock
The hearing was called after Schofield, 61, resigned from ITV and admitted to the “unwise but not illegal” affair which started when Person X was 20. The presenter was subsequently dropped by his talent agency, YMU.
Dame Carolyn told MPs that the “imbalance of power, the imbalance of dynamics” made the relationship “deeply inappropriate”.
ITV bosses deny NDAs and gagging orders
The hearing was told the matter was looked into at around the time when Schofield came out as gay on This Morning in February 2020, supported by his then co-presenter Holly Willoughby.
Read more:
Phillip Schofield: Timeline of ITV departure
Key extracts from ITV chief executive’s letter on Schofield departure
Dame Carolyn confirmed Schofield has been “receiving counselling” since his exit from the show and that she is “very concerned” about his welfare.
She also confirmed there is “no gagging order or NDA” to stop Person X from speaking out about the situation, and denied he was given a “pay-off” when he left ITV. The hearing was told he received a standard redundancy payment.
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Schofield’s interviews explained
The ITV bosses were also asked about how the young man came to work at ITV. MPs heard he applied for work experience and listed Schofield as a family friend, but this was not that unusual and the application did not ring “alarm bells”.
Person X carried out work experience at This Morning for about two weeks when he was 19, and “impressed people” before he was later offered a longer-term fixed contract, the politicians were told.
ITV boss is no stranger to drama – but is she aware of everything happening behind the scenes?
Being the big boss Dame Carolyn McCall has had to steer ITV through a sizeable chunk of off-screen drama – from Piers Morgan quitting and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial columns, to the axing of Jeremy Kyle and Love Island’s post-show care.
She is no stranger to helping the channel ride out the headlines, and – subject to more than two hours of questioning from MPs – she claimed she welcomed the opportunity to “set out some of the facts” of what’s been happening at ITV.
She has needed to. ITV bosses tried persistently, she claimed, to find out what was going on between former This Morning star Phillip Schofield and a young runner.
The broadcaster’s argument about why no action was taken effectively boiled down to: how can you properly investigate with no concrete evidence?
Schofield’s fragile mental state surrounding his coming out as gay was also cited as a reason they felt they had to tread carefully. There was a focus on welfare, which is no doubt a key concern, and particularly in recent years after the death of Love Island presenter Caroline Flack.
Accusations that the runner in question had been made to sign a non-disclosure agreement were dismissed, while a “pay-off” that has been speculated about was explained as a standard redundancy payment after the COVID pandemic.
Is there a toxic working environment at This Morning? The bosses insisted no, and presented a rosy picture of how staff, when surveyed, gave glowing assessments of their employer. Whistleblowing numbers were widely displayed in staff toilets, they said, and in lifts, and every effort is made to make sure staff feel comfortable enough to express their concerns.
Professional boundaries were crossed, the power balance was “inappropriate”, Dame Carolyn admitted.
But her shocked reaction to claims brought up that viewers, on occasion, were referred to as “Tower Block Traceys” in production meetings was indicative of the fact that while she is across policy on a corporate level, management are unlikely to be aware of what’s being said further down the food chain.
Clearly, there is a disconnect there.
Is there a ‘toxic’ culture at This Morning?
Later in the session, MPs asked about allegations of a toxic culture at This Morning, and Dame Carolyn described these as “deeply” disappointing.
She confirmed the show has received two complaints about bullying or harassment in five years, and said these were “both taken very seriously”. One of these was from the show’s former resident doctor Dr Ranj Singh, who raised concerns about “bullying and discrimination” and afterwards said he felt like he was “managed out” for whistleblowing.
“It deeply disappoints me but we do not recognise that at This Morning, we have tangible evidence to tell you where the vast majority of people at daytime at This Morning are extremely engaged and very motivated,” Dame Carolyn said.
Read more:
Holly Willoughby’s full statement in This Morning return
Alison Hammond breaks down on This Morning
Schofield apologises over affair – and says he has ‘lost everything’
MP John Nicholson told the panel he had received many messages from employees past and present at ITV talking about the bullying culture at the broadcaster, with one describing daytime TV as “particularly toxic”.
Dame Carolyn replied: “They’re very disappointing to hear. Deeply distressing. I’ve said we’ve had two official complaints, both of them investigated – it does not fill me with anything but sorrow.”
She also described comments from This Morning editor Martin Frizell as “foolish”, after he referred to aubergines when asked by Sky News about allegations of a “toxic” work environment on the programme.
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This Morning boss: ‘Do you like aubergine?’
“I think Martin has made a mistake, I think he knows he made a mistake, I don’t think he intended to say that. It was a foolish comment; an ill-advised comment, I absolutely agree,” she said.
An independent review into the facts by a barrister, commissioned by ITV, was also discussed during the hearing, with Dame Carolyn saying: “There will be things to learn.”
The barrister will review complaints made since 1 January 2016, and consider whether steps taken to deal with them were “appropriate and adequate”.
The review is expected to be completed by the end of September.
The session ended with chairwoman Dame Caroline Dinenage saying the committee wants to be confident that “ITV isn’t letting star power and favouritism damage the lives or careers of those working there”.
Dame Carolyn responded by saying that ITV takes “every allegation about our culture seriously, but I think it would be very wrong to depict ITV as having an issue”.
UK
Police investigating alleged attack on prison officer by Southport triple murderer Axel Rudakubana
Schoolchildren are asking teachers how to strangle a partner during sex safely, a charity says, while official figures show an alarming rise in the crime related to domestic abuse cases.
Warning: This article contains references to strangulation, domestic abuse and distressing images.
It comes as a woman whose former partner almost strangled her to death in a rage has advised anyone in an abusive relationship to seek help.
Bernie Ryan, chief executive of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, has been running the charity since its inception in 2022 after non-fatal strangulation became a standalone offence.
“It’s the ultimate form of control,” she says.
She says perpetrators and victims are getting younger, while the reason is unclear, but strangulation has seeped into popular culture and social media.
“We hear lots of sex education providers, teachers saying that they’re hearing it in schools.
“We know teachers have been asked, ‘how do I teach somebody to strangle safely?’
“Our message is there is no safe way to strangle – the anatomy is the anatomy. Reduction in oxygen to the brain or blood flow will result in the same medical consequences, regardless of context.”
Bernie Ryan, CEO of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation
A recent review by Conservative peer Baroness Gabby Bertin recommended banning “degrading, violent and misogynistic content” online.
Violent pornography showing women being choked during sex she found was “rife on mainstream platforms”.
Ms Ryan says she “wants to make sure that young people don’t have access to activities that demonstrate that this is normal behaviour”.
Read more from Sky News:
Suspect accused of Derby bank murder appears in court
Man whose body was found in suitcase ‘had raped teenager’
Strangulation is a violent act that is often committed in abusive relationships.
It is the second most common method used by men to kill women, the first is stabbing.
According to statistics shared by the Crown Prosecution Service, in 2024 there was an almost 50% rise in incidents of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation – compared to the year before.
Kerry Allan pleads for other victims of abuse to seek help
Domestic abuse victim Kerry Allan has a message for anyone who is in an abusive relationship.
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022. While she said “at the beginning it was really good”, within months he became physically abusive.
In August last year her friends found his profile on a dating app.
“I confronted him and he denied it. I knew we were going to get into a big argument and I couldn’t face it, so I said I was going to my mum’s for a few days and take myself away from the situation.
“I came back a few days later and stupidly I agreed we could try again and everything escalated from that.”
Injuries to Kerry’s chest. Pic: CPS
In the early hours of 25 August the pair had come in from a night out at a concert and got into an argument.
“He was having a go at me, accusing me of flirting with other people, and I was angry. I told him he had a nerve after what he’d done to me in the week and how he humiliated me.
“I told him that I wanted to leave, that we were done and that I wanted to go to my mum’s and that’s when it got bad.
“He pinned me to the bed and that’s when he first strangled me.”
Kerry’s neck injury. Pic: CPS
Kerry says this was the first time she’d ever been violently assaulted. Cosgrove was eerily silent as he eventually let go and Kerry gasped for air.
“I remember trying to get my breath back, I was crying and hyperventilating… I was sick on the bedroom floor and I was asking him to go.”
Cosgrove strangled her for a second time before letting go again.
“He was saying I wasn’t getting out of this bedroom alive. I was dead tonight, he hoped that I knew that. Just kept saying how I’d ruined his life.”
Injury to Kerry’s eye. Pic: CPS
“I remember feeling a sort of shock thinking at this point, I’m not going to get out of this bedroom, he’s actually going to kill me.”
Kerry began screaming and shouting for help as loud as she could.
Her neighbours heard the commotion and called the police. While they were en route, Kerry was once again being assaulted.
Bleeding in Kerry’s eye
“I ran over to the bedroom window and tried to jump out, he grabbed me as I went to open the window, and we struggled. And then I was back in the same position, he was on top of me on the bed, and his hands were round the throat again. But this time it didn’t stop.
“I remember trying to struggle and trying to kick out and hit him and I just kept thinking that I definitely was going to die, because at this point, it wasn’t stopping.”
The next memory Kerry has is opening her eyes to see police and paramedics in the bedroom.
Michael Cosgrove. Pic: CPS
Cosgrove had heard the sirens, jumped out of the bedroom window and went to hide in Kerry’s car.
Kerry remembers opening her eyes to paramedics caring for her: “I remember thinking, I’m alive. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that I was alive and I wasn’t dead. My last memory is him being on top of me with his hands on my throat.”
Kerry met Michael Cosgrove in September 2022
She gives this advice to anyone who is in an abusive relationship: “Please speak to somebody, whether it’s friends, family, a work colleague, whether it’s somebody online, whether it’s a charity that you’re directed to, any sort of abuse is not okay.
“Whether it starts off emotional, they often start off that way, and they escalate, and they can escalate badly.
“Take what happened to me as a huge warning sign, because I wouldn’t want anyone else to be in the position I’ve been in the last eight months.”
Cosgrove was found guilty of attempting to murder Kerry and intentional strangulation.
He will be sentenced in July.
If you suspect you are being abused and need to speak to someone, there are people who can help you.
The National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 2000 247
Respect, the helpline for male domestic abuse victims: 0808 8010327
Galop, the LGBT+ anti-violence charity: 0800 999 5428
Two men have been found guilty of cutting down the famous Sycamore Gap tree that stood for more than 150 years.
Daniel Graham and Adam Carruthers were convicted of causing more than £620,000 worth of damage to the tree and more than £1,000 worth of damage to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.
On 27 September 2023, the pair drove 30 miles through a storm to Northumberland from Cumbria, where they both lived, before felling the tree overnight in a matter of minutes.
The Sycamore Gap tree before it was cut down. Pic: CPS
The pair each denied two counts of criminal damage to the sycamore and to Hadrian’s Wall, which was damaged when the tree fell on it, but were convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court on Friday.
The Sycamore Gap tree sat in a dip in the landscape and held a place in pop culture, featuring in the 1991 Kevin Costner film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
It also formed part of people’s personal lives, as the scene of wedding proposals, ashes being scattered and countless photographs.
Footage of the moment the tree was felled was played during the trial.
Daniel Graham. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
Adam Carruthers. Pic: Northumbria Police/PA
In the clip, the sound of a chainsaw can be heard, and the silhouette of a person can be seen, before the trunk eventually tumbled.
The footage was shot on Graham’s iPhone 13, with the metadata providing the coordinates of the tree.
Part of tree kept as ‘trophy’
Over the course of the trial, the pair blamed one another, but the prosecution argued they were both responsible for what the court heard was a “mindless act of vandalism”.
As well as the video footage of the felling, an image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone.
Adam Carruthers (R) and Daniel Graham (L) worked together felling trees. Pic: CPS/PA
An image of a piece of wood and a chainsaw was found on Graham’s phone. Pic: PA
Richard Wright KC, prosecuting, told the court: “This was perhaps a trophy taken from the scene to remind them of their actions, actions that they appear to have been revelling in.”
Voice notes played in court
The jury was also played voice notes the pair had sent one another, commenting on the media coverage the incident was receiving.
In one of them, Graham, 39, said to 32-year-old Carruthers: “Someone there has tagged like ITV News, BBC News, Sky News, like News News News”, before adding: “I think it’s going to go wild.”
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Sycamore Gap seeds saved
Another piece of evidence was a photo of the defendants felling a different tree, about a month before the Sycamore Gap was cut down.
The prosecution said Graham, who owned a groundworks company and Carruthers, who worked in property management and mechanics, were “friends with knowledge and experience in chainsaws and tree felling”.
From the beginning, much of the trial focused on the significance of the tree, with Judge Mrs Justice Lambert telling the jury to put their “emotion to one side” before proceedings began.
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Voicenotes from Sycamore Gap tree trial
‘Mindless acts of violence’
Northumberland Superintendent Kevin Waring, of Northumbria Police, said: “We often hear references made to mindless acts of vandalism – but that term has never been more relevant than today in describing the actions of those individuals”.
Graham and Carruthers gave no explanation for why they targeted the tree, he said, “and there never could be a justifiable one”.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Susan Dungworth, called the felling of the tree “unfathomable” and said, although “there was no remorse [from the defendants], there was compelling evidence, and now there will be justice”.
Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor for CPS North East, said Graham and Carruthers took “under three minutes” to bring down the “iconic landmark” in a “deliberate and mindless act of destruction”.
She said she hoped the community “can take some measure of comfort in seeing those responsible convicted”.
‘Enormity of the loss’
Reflecting on the verdict and the actions of the pair, Tony Gates, chief executive of Northumberland National Parks Authority, said: “It just took a few days to sink in – I think because of the enormity of the loss.
“We knew how important that location was for many people at an emotional level, almost at a spiritual level in terms of people’s connection to this case.”
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Moment Sycamore Gap tree cut down
Read more from the trial:
Two men went on ‘moronic mission’ to fell Sycamore Gap tree
Man told police he was being ‘framed’ over tree felling
Defendant says friend wanted to cut down world’s ‘most famous tree’
Jurors played voicenotes in Sycamore Gap tree trial
The tree’s stump still sits by Hadrian’s Wall, where new shoots have been emerging.
Its largest remaining section will go on display at the National Landscape Discovery Centre in the Northumberland National Park later this year.
The effort to preserve the tree’s legacy also goes beyond the region where it stood.
Forty-nine saplings taken from the tree have been conserved by the National Trust. They will be planted in accessible public spaces across the country as “trees of hope”, which will allow parts of the Sycamore Gap to live on.
The defendants, who didn’t react when the verdicts were delivered, will be sentenced in July.
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