Experts give their verdict on Phillip Schofield’s TV return

After last year admitting to a relationship with a much younger male colleague, Phillip Schofield took a hiatus from the world of showbiz. 

It’s been sixteen months since the disgraced presenter’s acrimonious departure from ITV‘s This Morning in May 2023 and he has rarely be seen in public since. 

But the 62-year-old is now set to make a shock return to TV after signing up for a new show. 

Schofield has secretly filmed Channel 5 special Cast Away, which required him to give up his home comforts for 10 days of soul-searching on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean.

Unsurprisingly, his return to mainstream TV has caused a stir among members of the public, with some already writing the programme off as a ‘disgrace’ while others have branded the presenter a ‘narcissist’. 

Meanwhile, experts believe this will be Schofield’s last roll of the dice, that will either end in riches or ruin for the former presenter, depending on whether he can capture the hearts and minds of audiences once again. 

Brand and Culture Expert Nick Ede gave a positive verdict of the show, claiming it is the only way for the star to return to the limelight. 

He told MailOnline: ‘This is Schofield’s Mea Culpa moment where he is stripped quite literally of everything and everyone and we will see him in a very vulnerable position. 

‘It’s a clever move to test the waters and see if he can rehabilitate his image. 

‘As a vehicle on the road to redemption it’s a better way of doing it that another sit down interview, it’s a way for audiences to connect with Schofield again and a way for him to see whether he has still got it or that audiences have switched off him for good.’

Mr Ede added that the programme could see Schofield’s reputation fall even further, as has been the case with many scandal hit celebs who have sought to re-immerse themselves in the showbiz world. 

He continued: ‘All of these comebacks can be seen as risky and with sit down interviews we know they can backfire terribly.

‘He’s not got the talent of someone like Ellen who can say goodbye with a Netflix special but he does have the right to reply and be open and honest and this may be the best way for him to address the allegations with as much honesty as possible.

‘The main issue here is do we care? And many fans and audience members have moved on and so may just simply not care about him any more.’

PR guru Mark Borkowski also believes this will be a tipping point for Schofield, which if successful, could see him become a mainstay on our screens once more. 

He told MailOnline: ‘I am not surprised at all. He has an audience. It is a clever piece of casting. 

‘It as an exercise to relaunch himself. It is a hail mary for him and it has been a great move to keep it under wraps. 

‘There will be a lot of eyes on it. It is a test really to see if there is more interest in Phil on this channel. If he can pull it off he could be the face of Channel 5.’

Addressing the apparent backlash to the show this morning, Mark added: ‘The bottom line is if he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Television is what he needs.

‘I think it is great casting from Channel 5. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. In a way [the island] is like purgatory for him.

‘He has taken enough negativity and ultimately audiences will decide.

‘It will be an interesting next chapter. It may be the final chapter.’

It’s understood that Schofield was given a handheld camera, body cameras and a sound pack before being left to record his emotional week-and-a-half long journey.

Billed as ‘an authentic and intense physical and mental challenge’ Channel 5 have confirmed that Phillip was ‘left alone with only a handful of cameras to document his own experience.’

Viewers will see the axed presenter reflect on the emotional impact of his exile from mainstream TV after news of his affair with a 20-year old runner on This Morning came to light. 

One clip from the show, released today, sees Schofield in tears telling the camera: ‘I know what I did was unwise, but is it enough to completely destroy someone?’

The series will air across three nights from Monday September 30 to Wednesday October 2, in three 60 minute installments.

The TV comeback has been met with disdain by the public with one declaring: ‘If this is designed to make people feel sorry for him, it will backfire massively. 

‘People were just starting to forget, and now they are raking it all up again.’

One said: ‘There’s shameless. Totally shameless,’ while another added: ‘How tke [sic] f*** is Phillip Schofield getting a tv show? This is a disgrace.’

Scott Bryan added: ‘Quite shocked by that Phillip Schofield show but then I remembered that this is Channel 5 so hardly surprising.’

A TalkTV presenter branded the star as a ‘narcissist’, adding that she did not think he should be having anymore screen time. She said: ‘Is this not a chance for a narcissist to just have more me time on screen? I don’t want to know his story, I’m not interested in it.’ 

Schofield’s This Morning co-presenter Eamonn Holmes, reacted to news of the new show while live on GBNews. 

When former Home Office Minister Norman Baker sarcastically remarked ‘my heart bleeds’, Holmes let out a chuckle in a very telling reaction to the news. 

While Phillip was alone on the island for ten days, the production team were stationed 30 minutes offshore, and were told only to intervene in the event of an extreme emergency. 

Phillip’s mental health and physical safety were monitored as the experience progressed.

A source told The Sun: ‘Over the past few months Phil has had quite a few offers for various things – but has steadfastly turned them all down.

‘This sort of challenge has always appealed to him though and after consulting with friends and family, he decided to go for it. It’s all been top secret, and has been an incredibly quick turnaround in order to keep the news quiet.

‘After 42 years on telly, Phillip has learnt from some great crews and teams on how to film and tell a story.’ 

The source added: ‘With 10 days to himself, no camera crews or production around, he shot some unbelievably raw footage – some of it makes for tough, emotional viewing. 

‘But he wanted a chance to share his story, unedited and honest, and let viewers see another side to him.

‘Whilst this is a massive coup for Channel 5, and huge for Phillip, he’s in no rush to come back to TV full-time yet; he remains very bruised, and is just taking some time now to weigh things up before he makes any major decisions.’ 

It was May 2023 when the presenter admitted to having a relationship with a much younger male colleague on This Morning, and later lying about it.

He described their romance as ‘unwise but not illegal’ and explained it took place during his nearly 30-year marriage to Stephanie Lowe, with whom he is a parent to two children. 

Schofield subsequently resigned from both This Morning and ITV and said that he was ‘so very sorry’ to Lowe for being unfaithful.

At the time, it was reported that Steph had been left ‘devastated’ by the revelation and angry that her husband had lied to her.

However, it was later revealed she is choosing not to file for divorce because she does not want him to ‘fall any further’ then he already has, and despite everything, ‘the love is still very much there.’

As well as the breakdown of his marriage, Schofield’s relationship with co-host Holly Willoughby faltered in the midst of the scandal, with the pair understood to be at loggerheads.

Schofield’s daughter Molly is now his publicist after she quit the talent agency that once represented her father.

Schofield told the BBC in an emotional interview last June the affair had finished his career and revealed that the fallout had left him feeling suicidal.

He told how his two daughters – Molly and Ruby – had saved his life and had ‘guarded me and won’t let me out of their sight’.

During the sit-down interview with Amol Rajan he told critics: ‘Do you want me to die? Because that’s where I am.’ 

Schofield also insisted he had not ‘groomed’ his young lover, despite first meeting him when he was 15.

He said: ‘Attraction is attraction. It’s no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world or in the lesbian world.

‘There shouldn’t be a difference. This is where homophobia comes in. We did first meet when he was 15, I visited the drama school [he attended].’

He said the fallout from his admission that he lied about his affair with a younger male colleague had been ‘relentless’, revealing he has had suicidal thoughts.

Schofield said: ‘My girls saved my life. They said last week they haven’t left me for a moment. They’ve been by my side every moment because they’re scared to let me out of their sight. What is that like for daughters to have to go with something like that?

‘And they said to me, ‘don’t you dare do this on our watch. We’re supposed to be looking after you’. If my girls hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t be here, because I don’t see my future.’

Schofield also slammed ‘a handful of people’ with ‘persistently loud voices’ in a statement days after leaving This Morning – and rejected claims of a ‘toxic’ culture on the programme.

The daytime show was plunged into meltdown since revelations over Schofield’s relationship with a much younger man at ITV emerged with the channel losing millions of pounds in sponsorship deals and some guests refusing to appear on the sofa.

But speaking out on social media in May 2023, Schofield hit out at those ‘with a grudge against me’.

In a statement posted on his Instagram, the presenter said: ‘Now I no longer work on This Morning I am free to say this. I hope you have noticed that it’s the same handful of people with a grudge against me or the show who seem to have the loudest voice.

‘This Morning IS the best show to work on, with the best people. In all the years I worked there there was no toxicity. You can listen to those persistently loud voices if you like. 

‘But the thousands of guests over the years, thousands of staff and crew, hundreds of presenters and contributors all know it, it IS a family of wonderful, talented, kind, hard, working people.’

Bosses at ITV published the much anticipated review into the scandal and allegations of toxic working culture in December. It was conducted by an independent lawyer, Jane Mulcahy KC.

One employee told the Mail of their ‘sheer bewilderment’ that only one junior worker was aware of the relationship.

The report found that ITV did not cover up the relationship and that station bosses had made ‘considerable efforts’ to discover the truth in 2019 – four years before the affair broke.

The external review found that the channel was ‘unable to uncover the relevant evidence’ until Schofield’s own admission in May 2023, when he told the Mail that he had been having the relationship and later lied about it.

ITV bosses have said both Schofield and his former lover, a runner who has never been named, ‘repeatedly denied’ allegations of a relationship until the star dramatically quit ITV and formally apologised.

It added that only one person out of 48 interviewed – a junior employee – said they knew about the presenter’s relationship with a younger male former colleague before he revealed it in May.

Mulcahy revealed that Schofield refused to take part in the review into the circumstances surrounding the his departure because of ‘the risk to his health’. She added that she was informed that the host’s mental health had since deteriorated.

Schofield’s former colleague and lover also declined to participate in the report.

However, staff at ITV have been left cross, accusing the report of being a ‘waste of time’. The findings did reveal that there was a culture of silence at the channel, saying that junior employees at ITV’s This Morning still fear that speaking out will damage their careers in the industry.