Phillip Schofield – what did ITV know? The key questions as broadcaster’s bosses face MPs
Following Phillip Schofield’s dramatic exit from This Morning, ITV bosses are now set to face questions from MPs.
The broadcaster’s chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall will appear at a parliamentary committee this morning to answer questions about its approach to safeguarding and handling complaints.
Kevin Lygo, ITV‘s managing director for media and entertainment, and Kyla Mullins, the channel’s general counsel and company secretary, will also give evidence.
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‘I don’t want this to be a witch hunt’
Schofield admitted an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague, after weeks of speculation about a feud with his This Morning co-presenter Holly Willoughby.
The 61-year-old later clarified in an interview that the colleague was 20 when the relationship started, but they first met when the younger man was 15.
Given they were both consenting adults at the time Schofield says the relationship began, some have criticised the inquiry and the headlines the presenter’s departure from ITV has generated. Writing for The Times, presenter Jeremy Clarkson questioned the “berserk” response, saying Schofield is “only guilty of being what he said he was: gay”.
But the admission has raised concerns about the imbalance of power and prompted questions about how much ITV knew about the relationship – Schofield has insisted that neither bosses nor Willoughby were aware.
What did ITV know?
Following Schofield’s admission of the affair, ITV has said it investigated “rumours of a relationship” involving a younger employee – but the pair “categorically and repeatedly denied” the affair.
This was around the time the presenter, who has been married to his wife Stephanie Lowe since 1993, came out as gay with an announcement on This Morning, supported by Willoughby, in 2020.
In a statement, ITV said both Schofield and the male colleague were questioned in 2020 but both denied the “rumours”, as did the star’s agency, YMU – who have now dropped him.
Read more on Phillip Schofield:
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“In addition, ITV spoke to a number of people who worked on This Morning and were not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour,” the statement said.
It went on to say Schofield had “lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others”.
However, former This Morning presenter Eamonn Holmes has accused the broadcaster of a “total cover-up”.
When asked by Sky News if mistakes were made in their 2020 investigation, Mr Lygo replied: “No.”
Who is Dame Carolyn McCall?
ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall
Dame Carolyn became the first female boss of ITV at the end of 2017, moving to the broadcaster after leaving her role as chief executive of the EasyJet airline. Before that, she ran the Guardian Media Group.
She was awarded her damehood in 2016 for services to the airline industry.
Dame Carolyn has overseen ITV during a difficult period that has included Piers Morgan quitting Good Morning Britain, the axing of The Jeremy Kyle Show, and the suicides of two Love Island contestants and the show’s presenter Caroline Flack.
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Following the fall-out from Schofield’s affair admission, she instructed a barrister to carry out an external review of the facts surrounding the relationship.
Jane Mulcahy KC, of Blackstone Chambers, will conduct this.
“She will review our records and talk to people involved,” Dame Carolyn said in a letter sent to Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, culture media and sport (CMS) committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage, and Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes. “This work will also consider our relevant processes and policies and whether we need to change or strengthen any.”
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What happens today?
Dame Carolyn, Mr Lygo and Ms Mullins will appear before the CMS committee to answer questions about the scandal.
MPs will want to know whether senior executives knew about the relationship, and how the younger colleague came to get the job on This Morning in the first place.
Were there systems in place to protect young members of staff from any potential manipulation or abuse of power from those higher up?
What were the circumstances surrounding the younger colleague’s move to Loose Women and, later on, his departure from ITV?
Whatever happens, Dame Caroline has assured the questioning won’t be a “witch hunt” against Schofield.
However, when asked by Sky News if she had concerns about ITV’s handling of the situation, she said: “The fact is that these big public service broadcasters have these gods of television, these incredibly powerful and successful celebrities who do have incredible influence and power, and my committee want to make sure that there are the right workplace practices in place, the right duty of care over junior staff members.
“They (celebrities) do have the potential power over other people’s careers, and we want to ensure that everything is in place that prevents that being abused in any way.”
The hearing is due to begin at 10am.
The Stone Roses bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield has died at the age of 63, his family has said.
Mani’s brother, Greg, said in a post on Facebook: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the sad passing of my brother.”
“RIP RKID,” he added.
Gary “Mani” Mounfield and his wife Imelda at the world premiere of “The Stone Roses : Made Of Stone” in 2013. Pic: Reuters
Formed in 1983, The Stone Roses were a mainstay of the “Madchester” scene.
Mani joined the band in 1987 and formed part of its classic line-up alongside singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren. He remained with the group until their split in 1996.
Mani’s death comes two years after that of his wife, Imelda Mounfield, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2020. The couple welcomed twin boys in 2012.
Ian Brown, left, with Mani, right, performing on stage during their 2012 reunion concerts in Manchester. Pic: Reuters
The Stone Roses frontman Brown shared a tribute online, writing: “REST IN PEACE MANi X.”
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher said he was “in total shock and absolutely devastated”, describing the bassist as “my hero”.
“RIP Mani – my heartfelt condolences to his twin boys and all of his family,” wrote the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder, whose bandmate Rowetta added: “Back with your Imelda, Mani. Going to miss you so much. All my love to the boys, the family & all those who knew & loved him.”
The Charlatans frontman, Tim Burgess, shared a photo of himself with Mani, writing alongside it: “I shared this photo a week or so ago on Mani’s birthday.
“It never failed to bring a smile to my face – and that was exactly the same for the man himself.
“One of the absolute best in every way – such a beautiful friend.”
Echo & the Bunnymen vocalist Ian McCulloch said Mani was someone “who I have always loved and always will love, deeply and forever. Like a brother”.
He continued: “I am in shock to be honest. Please tell me I’m just having a bad, bad dream. My thoughts and feelings and Mani. Love to all of his family from me”.
Pic: Robert Marquardt/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
The “Madchester” bands were known for blending indie with acid house, psychedelia, and pop.
The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album of 1989 was a huge success, and was named the second greatest album of all time in a “Music of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian, and Classic FM.
The novel has survived the industrial revolution, radio, television, and the internet. Now it’s facing artificial intelligence – and novelists are worried.
Half (51%) fear that they will be replaced by AI entirely, according to a new survey, even though for the most part they don’t use the technology themselves.
More immediately, 85% say they think their future income will be negatively impacted by AI, and 39% claim their finances have already taken a hit.
Tracy Chevalier, the bestselling author of Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Glassmaker, shares that concern.
“I worry that a book industry driven mainly by profit will be tempted to use AI more and more to generate books,” she said in response to the survey.
“If it is cheaper to produce novels using AI (no advance or royalties to pay to authors, quicker production, retainment of copyright), publishers will almost inevitably choose to publish them.
“And if they are priced cheaper than ‘human made’ books, readers are likely to buy them, the way we buy machine-made jumpers rather than the more expensive hand-knitted ones.”
Chevalier, author of the book Girl With A Pearl Earring, with the painting of the same name. Pic: AP
Why authors are so worried
The University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy asked 258 published novelists and 74 industry insiders how AI is viewed and used in the world of British fiction.
Alongside existential fears about the wholesale replacement of the novel, many authors reported a loss of income from AI, which they attributed to “competition from AI-generated books and the loss of jobs which provide supplementary streams of income, such as copywriting”.
Some respondents reported finding “rip-off AI-generated imitations” of their own books, as well books “written under their name which they haven’t produced”.
Last year, the Authors Guild warned that “the growing access to AI is driving a new surge of low-quality sham ‘books’ on Amazon”, which has limited the number of publications per day on its Kindle self-publishing platform to combat the influx of AI-generated books.
The median income for a novelist is currently £7,000 and many make ends meet by doing related work, such as audiobook narration, copywriting or ghost-writing.
Read more: The author embracing AI to help write novels
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Could the AI bubble burst?
These tasks, authors feared, were already being supplanted by AI, although little evidence was provided for this claim, which was not possible to verify independently.
Copyright was also a big concern, with 59% of novelists reporting that they knew their work had been used to train AI models.
Of these, 99% said they did not give permission and 100% said they were not remunerated for this use.
Earlier this year, AI firm Anthropic agreed to pay authors $1.5bn (£1.2bn) to settle a lawsuit which claimed the company stole their work.
The judge in the US court case ruled that Anthropic had downloaded more than seven million digital copies of books it “knew had been pirated” and ordered the firm to pay authors compensation.
However, the judge sided with Anthropic over the question of copyright, saying that the AI model was doing something akin to when a human reads a book to inspire new work, rather than simply copying.
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Most novelists – 67% – never used it for creative work, although a few said they found it very useful for speeding up drafting or editing.
One case study featured in the report is Lizbeth Crawford, a novelist in multiple genres, including fantasy and romance. She describes working with AI as a writing partner, using it to spot plot holes and trim adjectives.
“Lizbeth used to write about one novel per year, but now she can do three per year, and her target is five,” notes the author of the report, Dr Clementine Collett.
Is there a role for government?
Despite this, the report’s foreword urges the government to slow down the spread of AI by strengthening copyright law to protect authors and other creatives.
The government has proposed making an exception to UK copyright law for “text and data mining”, which might make authors and other copyright holders opt out to stop their work being used to train AI models.
“That approach prioritises access to data for the world’s technology companies at the cost to the UK’s own creative industries,” writes Professor Gina Neff, executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.
“It is both bad economics and a betrayal of the very cultural assets of British soft power.”
A government spokesperson said: “Throughout this process we have, and always will, put the interests of the UK’s citizens and businesses first.
“We’ve always been clear on the need to work with both the creative industries and AI sector to drive AI innovation and ensure robust protections for creators.
“We are bringing together both British and global companies, alongside voices beyond the AI and creative sectors, to ensure we can capture the broadest possible range of expert views as we consider next steps.”
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