A week is a long time in daytime television. A fortnight? Turns out it’s a lifetime. Two weeks ago, Holly Willoughby took a break from This Morning after reports of a falling out with her co-presenter, Phillip Schofield. Since then, Schofield has resigned from the show and This Morning and ITV have been plunged into a much deeper crisis, with Schofield confirming that he had an extramarital affair with a young staffer on the production team.
This Morning stayed on air, going from avoidance to a mea culpa. After days of hardly acknowledging it was in the news at all – apart from a short statement and a pointed “how was your weekend?” by Dermot O’Leary the Monday after Schofield stood down – by Friday Alison Hammond was holding back tears as she reflected on his BBC News interview with Amol Rajan. (“I’m just finding it really painful,” said Hammond. “Because obviously I loved Phillip Schofield and I still love Phillip Schofield. However, what he has done is wrong.”)
