Phillip Schofield: ITV boss tells MPs she did not turn a blind eye to affair

ITV bosses have said they did not "turn a blind eye" to rumours about ex-presenter Phillip Schofield's relationship with a younger colleague.

On Wednesday, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall told MPs the affair was "deeply inappropriate", but that she had not had evidence until recently.

She added that she was now "very concerned" about Schofield's welfare.

Dame Carolyn and two fellow executives were called in front of the House of Commons culture, media and sport committee to answer questions about ITV's approach to safeguarding and complaint handling.

"The imbalance of power, the imbalance in of dynamics in that relationship makes it deeply inappropriate," said Dame Carolyn, who noted she first became aware of rumours when Schofield came out as gay on the show in February 2020.

"That is the first time things got really febrile," with speculation on social media, she said.

She said they asked Schofield about his alleged relationship after that, but he gave them "straightforward categorical denials each time".

ITV director of television Kevin Lygo told the MPs: "He looked me in the eye and promised me that there was absolutely no truth whatsoever in this in the rumours of this relationship."

Dame Carolyn added: "We asked multiple times of both individuals, both formally and informally. Because we had no evidence, no-one brought us anything tangible, either on the production floor or from the outside... there was only hearsay and rumour and speculation."

She continued: "Nobody would be turning a blind eye to something. Nobody here on the management board would ever turn a blind eye to something as serious as this."

Schofield suggested in an interview with the BBC earlier this month that the controversy had left him feeling suicidal. Dame Carolyn said ITV was now paying for his counselling.

She said she spoke to Schofield the day before he stood down from This Morning because she knew it was "pretty major thing in his life".

"Phillip is receiving counselling, which ITV are funding. He asked for that, and we're very happy to do that," she said.

She added they were also "extremely concerned" about the young man - who met Schofield aged 15 and received help getting into the TV industry - because "the level of intrusion in his life is unbelievably awful".

She said ITV was providing him with "a whole series of duty of care [provisions] all the way through, even though he left the company in 2021".

In his recent BBC interview, Schofield said he understood why people thought there had been an abuse of power, but that it "didn't feel like that at the time".

The network has instructed a lawyer to carry out an external review to establish the facts about how it handled its own review of rumours of the affair in 2020.

The ITV executives also denied accusations from some previous contributors of a "toxic" culture at the programme.

Dr Ranj Singh, who worked for This Morning for 10 years, said issues "go far beyond" Schofield.

ITV has said that after Dr Ranj's complaint, an external review "found no evidence of bullying or discrimination".

Former This Morning co-host Eamonn Holmes, who now presents on GB News, has also accused Schofield of "toxicity".