Phillip Schofield investigation: Viewers extremely disappointed at ITV’s underwhelming report

Phillip Schofield has had a very complicated 2023. In May he stepped down from This Morning,ITV and his entire career after it was revealed that he had an affair with a younger member of staff whom he had met while he was underage.

Discover our latest podcast

When this came out, it was revealed that Schofield had lied to ITV, people at This Morning as well as his family concerning the nature of the relationship when it was first in the spotlight in 2019. This also followed months of rumours of a feud between the two This Morning hosts, Willoughby and Schofield.

Soon after his exit, ITV hired Jane Mulcahy KC who had the task of conducting an investigation on the matter. Her results have just been released.

The underwhelming result of the Phillip Schofield investigation

Since May 2023, viewers of This Morning as well as the general public have waited for this investigation to come to an end and to unveil whether or not ITV knew about the affair before Schofield’s exit.

The results of the investigation were expected in September but they were delayed to the end of 2023. Very recently, at the end of November, an anonymous source told The Sun that the results were not going to meet that deadline. The source explained:

Bosses are keen to publish her findings so staff can put a difficult year behind them. However, if Jane finishes her review this side of Christmas, that would be very quick.

However, that source was proven wrong. The results came out in the afternoon of 7 December. Results that are far from satisfying. The main takeaway from it is that

ITV was unable to uncover the relevant evidence until Phillip Schofield’s admission in late May 2023.

The report also stresses that ITV’s incapacity to find evidence was not from their lack of trying. Jane Mulcahy KC says:

ITV’s management made considerable efforts to determine the truth about an alleged relationship between PS (Schofield) and PX (the runner) following on from the publication of a story in The Sun newspaper in early December 2019.

The second important piece of information revealed by the report is that Schofield did not cooperate with the investigation.

Finally, it was revealed that the ‘culture’ of This Morning isn't toxic. On those allegations, Mulcahy was quite clear. She told ITV News:

There was a lot of unfair, inaccurate and damaging speculation about This Morning’s culture.

Adding,

there is no finding of a “toxic” culture, and had there been one, I would have said so

Viewers and general public vastly disappointed

This report was long awaited. Therefore these underwhelming - and yet expected - results are a disappointment to everyone.

On X, some comments read:

Joke investigation @ITV #PhillipSchofield 🥺

They don't want to uncover it for reasons known to them

What a surprise 🙄

I don't really care, except it's such an egregious lie. Everyone knew about the relationship by 2019. It was all over Twitter.

It is also important to note that the Schofield scandal was the first of the year. It was followed by Huw Edwards’ and Dan Wootton’s. A lot of hope relied on this report to maybe spark a change in the culture of the TV industry. For some people, the non-findings are more proof that nothing will change even though more and more presenters are getting caught.