ITV has reacted to speculation that its daytime show This Morning could be cancelled over the Phillip Schofield scandal.
Last week, Schofield admitted that he lied about having an “unwise” but “not illegal” affair with a young male colleague on the show, and subsequently resigned from ITV.
The employee in question was allegedly 15 when he first met Schofield during a school visit, the Mail on Sunday reports.
Lawyers representing Schofield confirmed to the Evening Standard that he met the boy when he was 15, but said the affair began after he started working at ITV, after he turned 18.
ITV has now denied rumours that This Morning could be taken off air, insisting that it will return as normal on Monday 29 May.
“As we said on the record yesterday [Saturday], This Morning is not under review and there are no plans for the show to be axed,” a spokesperson said.
“This Morning will return as normal tomorrow.”
Schofield’s former co-host, Holly Willoughby, has said that his admission was “very hurtful”, after he previously denied his relationship with an ITV employee while he was still married to his then-wife, Stephanie.
In a lengthy statement published by the Daily Mail on Friday, he said he was “very, very sorry” for being unfaithful to her.
ITV said it investigated rumours of an affair between Schofield and the unnamed colleague in 2020, but was “not provided with, and did not find, any evidence of a relationship beyond hearsay and rumour”.
It said that both Schofield and his colleague “categorically and repeatedly denied the rumours” when questioned at the time.
“Phillip’s statement yesterday reveals that he lied to people at ITV, from senior management to fellow presenters, to YMU, to the media and to others over this relationship,” the channel’s representatives said.
Willoughby is currently on a two-week holiday, with Friday’s co-presenters Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary covering until her return on Monday 5 May.
This Morning airs on ITV1 and ITVX from 10am, Monday to Friday.
