An ITV executive has advised people not to make ‘rash decisions’ until the inquiry into Phillip Schofield is completed.
Back in June, the broadcaster stated that it had appointed a barrister to conduct an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Schofield’s departure from This Morning and ITV after he admitted to lying about having an affair with a considerably younger colleague.
The review’s conclusions are expected to be made public in the coming weeks, but ITV’s programmes controller Kevin Lygo has begged that people wait patiently for the results.
This week, at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the TV executive highlighted how Jane Mulcahy KC has been “talking to everyone involved” as part of her investigation.
‘[She has] taken out phones and looking at every text we’ve sent, including emails and WhatsApps,’ he shared.
When asked how ITV handled its duty of care, he stated that it took the role “very seriously.”
‘We haven’t got anything to hide and if we can adapt and change our process to make it better, then we should do it on a continuing basis,’ he added, as reported by Deadline.
‘The most important thing is to get facts and truth, not a hasty judgement.’
‘There is an enormous pressure these days from the press and social media saying, “you’ve got to decide” and “why didn’t you fire him?”, and you just think “well hang on a minute we don’t know what the truth is yet.”.’
He added that ITV would ‘act accordingly’ once the outcome had been revealed.
ITV issued a statement saying it was ‘badly let down’ and ‘very saddened’ after Schofield acknowledged to lying about his affair to executives and colleagues.
Both Schofield and his younger lover’repeatedly rejected’ suspicions of a connection, according to bosses.
In June, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall told a parliamentary committee that “we were repeatedly informed nothing was occurring,” and both men rejected it “both publicly and informally.”
In an earlier statement, ITV stated that a relationship between Schofield and the former This Morning colleague was probed in early 2020, but both parties ‘categorically and again’ refuted the accusations.
Schofield resigned in disgrace in May after confessing to the several-year-long affair.
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
