[Dadeki]

Why, in this day and age, is it acceptable for an employer to "investigate" rumours of a consensual relationship between employees?

Because there's uncertainty around the circumstances in which they met (it has been suggested that the young lad was around 15 at the time) which of course begs the question of whether Schofield was genuinely helping him break into television, or whether there was an ulterior motive and had groomed him with the intention of having a relationship, once he became of age. Regardless, it was clearly inappropriate for a married man who was decades older to be having a relationship with someone who was young enough to be his son.

[UTVLifer]

I don't think This Morning is going to be axed as it's too big an asset for ITV, but I do think there will end up being major changes in editorial/senior production staff if TM is to weather this storm

In the short-term, I would suspect that limping on until a possible September refresh will probably be the priority

[Joe]

Why, in this day and age, is it acceptable for an employer to "investigate" rumours of a consensual relationship between employees?

Because there's uncertainty around the circumstances in which they met (it has been suggested that the young lad was around 15 at the time) which of course begs the question of whether Schofield was genuinely helping him break into television, or whether there was an ulterior motive and had groomed him with the intention of having a relationship, once he became of age. Regardless, it was clearly inappropriate for a married man who was decades older to be having a relationship with someone who was young enough to be his son.

And the potential for an abuse of power is always worth investigating.

[tellyblues]

Here we go again, axing rumours. The show will not be axed. It's a huge part of their schedules, what will they fill it with? Two more hours of The Chase? Increase Loose Women and Lorraine by an extra hour each?

Everyone who says This Morning is going to be axed has no idea how daytime television is run on ITV - pulls in decent viewers, and generates decent ad revenue at that time of day - also it's live, whereas BBC One fill up their mid morning schedule with recorded programmes.

I think there is a campaign in the press to get ITV to axe the show. It won't work.

Viewers care not a jot about ads and schedules (nor should they). There is the implication that the situation has been managed for the show's sake ahead of what is morally correct.

No amount of official statements or prattling on from someone who calls themselves a spokesperson or a commissioner will matter.

[brioalex]

This Morning as a programme is definitely going to distance itself from all of this going forward. I doubt it will get mentioned again. It will definitely be interesting to see Holly return on the 5th June acting like nothing has happened.

This situation has gone beyond Phillip and the show itself. It raises serious questions about the conduct at ITV behind the scenes and how they investigate complaints. Whoever was in charge of investigating the numerous complaints raised by various on-screen presenters clearly didn't do a thorough enough investigation into what was happening.

[Jon]

Let’s face it, if they axed This Morning. It would just be replaced with the same programme in all but name, even if the producers change viewers would see it as such.

[iloveTV1]

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[TIGHazard]

Why, in this day and age, is it acceptable for an employer to "investigate" rumours of a consensual relationship between employees?

Because there's uncertainty around the circumstances in which they met (it has been suggested that the young lad was around 15 at the time) which of course begs the question of whether Schofield was genuinely helping him break into television, or whether there was an ulterior motive and had groomed him with the intention of having a relationship, once he became of age. Regardless, it was clearly inappropriate for a married man who was decades older to be having a relationship with someone who was young enough to be his son.

There's also additional rumours that would be potentially libellous if they were posted here (so I'm not), but having seen them elsewhere I can understand why ITV investigated. Even if they are 100% fake if someone came to me with them, to not even attempt an investigation would be negligence.

[Parsons]

Holly Willoughby has been damaged by this, it will be interesting to see if in time she comes clean about what this so-called “rift” was all about.

But what a mess. I really liked Schofield, obviously some of this affection due to nostalgia, watching him in the broom cupboard and on going live, and hats off to him, he was a pro and good at what he did.

This Morning will have to go through some sort of renewal, the whole brand now feels dirty. It’s not great that this has been bumbling in the papers for weeks, that’s really not good and it reflects pretty poorly on the broadcaster as a whole.

I do wonder, I’m a year or so under what capacity Phil might return to our screens? Suppose he had built up enough cash to not need to work, but going from quite a stressful job to nothing won’t be easy.

[Brekkie]

I think he might end up doing a Matthew Kelly and end up concentrating on the stage.

The story is out there officially now which is only a good thing. The only new information really is that Phil lied and more specifically continued to lie about it over the last 3 years. I suspect Holly needs to put her side out there one way or another to avoid being dragged down with him but I get the impression she had been lied to aswell which despite what Schofield's statement implied was the crux of their supposed feud.