[sjames]

Surprised to see this. I was hoping Phil would see it through and carry on regardless. Obviously will wait and see what happens over the coming days, but it feels at the moment that he's been forced out by the press. They seem to have had it in for him since queue-gate last year.

I've never really understood the hatred for Phil, having grown up with him appearing on kids TV and seeing him in Joseph and Dr Doolittle back in the day, he is a talented presenter. Obviously if the rumours hinted at elsewhere here are true, that paints a different picture, but I've not seen any concrete evidence of any wrongdoing, unlike what we've seen with his brother.

I notice the statements seem to suggest he'll still be presenting programmes on ITV, unlike when the John Barrowman stories came out about his antics behind the scenes, it seemed to effectively end his TV career.