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.”)
In Willoughby’s much-anticipated return, she opened the show by reading out a prepared statement from an autocue rather than making off-the-cuff comments. With the debacle attracting such scrutiny, you couldn’t blame her.
“Are you OK? I hope so,” she said, clearly making an effort to hold back emotion. “It feels very strange indeed sitting here without Phil and I imagine that you might have been feeling a lot like I have: shaken, troubled, let down, worried for the wellbeing of people on all sides of what’s been going on, and full of questions.
“You, me and all of us at This Morning gave our love and support to someone who was not telling the truth, who acted in a way that they themselves felt that they had to resign from ITV and step down from a career that they loved. That is a lot to process.
“And it’s equally hard to see the toll that it’s taken on their own mental health. I think what unites us all now is a desire to heal, for the health and wellbeing of everyone.”
This Morning has always relied on a mixture of random features. Today was no exception. After thanking other members of the team, Holly’s new presenting partner, Josie Gibson, quickly threw to a doctor talking about how to protect yourself from a hay fever “pollen bomb”.
By the end of the programme, it was back to a typical This Morning feel, with the hosts trying not to laugh during a cooking segment. But you could tell that, for parts of the show, Willoughby’s mind was elsewhere – just as viewers’ may have been. Many have wondered why this story dominated the papers for three weeks running and topped BBC News all day on Friday.
This story has become so complex that you can believe multiple things at the same time. You can be upset about someone’s conduct and concerned about their mental health. You can be concerned about allegations of a toxic workplace culture and unequal power dynamics – allegations that ITV denies – and wonder how this story would have been reported differently if Schofield had had an affair with a female colleague.
The story has also grown far beyond This Morning. It has become a flashpoint for conversations about toxic working environments in an industry that relies on a mix of powerful broadcasters and production teams with freelance contractors. It has also reflected concerns about power dynamics and control in a post-#MeToo world.
“I hope that, as we start this new chapter, and get back to a place of warmth and magic that this show holds for all of us, we can find strength in each other,” said Willoughby at the end of her statement. Unfortunately for This Morning, it doesn’t have a choice about whether viewers allow it to move on.
