Phillip Schofield began his career in the 80s (Picture: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Phillip Schofield will no longer be presenting ITV’s This Morning with Holly Willoughby.
The 61-year-old has presented the show for 20 years, but now Holly, 42, will be going on without him.
This comes after weeks of speculation that they were ‘barely speaking’ behind-the-scenes and that their relationship had ‘cooled’.
ITV revealed the news: ‘After more than 20 years on the This Morning sofa, Phillip Schofield has stepped back from ITV’s flagship morning show having presented his last episode on Thursday 18 May.
‘Having co-hosted the multi-award winning show for two decades, Phillip will continue to present peak time shows for ITV including next month’s The British Soap Awards and a new prime time series.’
Phil added: ‘I have always been proud to cover fascinating stories on This Morning. But recently, This Morning itself has become the story.
‘Throughout my career in TV – including the very difficult last few days – I have always done my best to be honourable and kind.
Phillip has stepped down from This Morning (Picture: Rex)
‘I understand that ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on, and I want to do what I can to protect the show that I love. So I have agreed to step down from This Morning with immediate effect, in the hope that the show can move forward to a bright future.
‘I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me – especially This Morning’s amazing viewers – and I’ll see you all for the Soap Awards next month.’
Let’s take a look back at Phil’s career so far as he prepares for the next chapter…
Children’s TV
Phil began his UK career on children’s TV in 1985. He’d previously worked in New Zealand on youth music programme Shazam!
He stayed on CBBC for two years where he presented segments from the ‘broom cupboard,’ before moving on to present Going Live! The compilation show included interviews with with notable famous faces, music performances and regular gunges.
In 2015 he credited his children’s TV beginnings as helping him gain important TV skills.
‘I had great fun in the Broom Cupboard, learning the skills of live TV. If you can introduce Newsround with a fluffy Gopher squeaking next to you, you can handle anything,’ he told ITV.
Phil becomes Joseph
In the final series of Going Live! Philip left to take on the titular role in the West End’s Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat. He took over in 1992 from Jason Donovan, and remained in the production for five years.
Speaking to the Irish Independent he said: ‘It was such an extraordinary time of my life, it was a bizarre thing to even be asked to do because it was so far away from what I ever planned or thought about doing and the risks were enormous if I had got it wrong.’
This Morning
In 2002, Phil took a seat on the sofa of This Morning with original co-host Fern Britton. He took over from John Leslie.
Holly took the reigns from 2009.
He had a big personal moment on the show in 2020. After coming out as gay on Instagram he appeared on This Morning to open up a bit more: ‘This is not something that’s happened quickly. I’ve had to deal with this in my head for quite some time. We’ve gone through this together, we’ve been honest and we’ve been open, and Steph [Lowe, Phil’s wife], as I said… I can’t write in any statement what I feel about that woman.
‘She is amazing. She’s incredible. There is no one in my life who would have supported me, as a wife, the way she’s supported me. She’s astonishing, literally astonishing.’
ITV primetime shows
Dancing on Ice came to our screens in 2006, and was the birthplace of the iconic partnership between Phil and Holly.
She left briefly in 2011, and was replaced by Christine Lampard until 2014. When the show returned in 2018 following a hiatus Holly was back once more.
In the same year that Dancing on Ice started, he began hosting the British Soap Awards, something that he will continue to do following his This Morning departure.
All Star Mr & Mrs began in 2009 with Phil and Fern at the helm. When his co-host left in 2010 he continued on his own for six years.
From 2009, he also started fronting The Cube – a game show where contestants compete challenges in the confined space for cash prizes. It ended in 2015.
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He’s had a varied career.
