ITV’s boss has warned against media pressure to end people’s careers after the resignation of Phillip Schofield from This Morning.
Schofield quit This Morning in May amid tensions with his co-host, Holly Willoughby, later admitting he had lied to ITV bosses over his “unwise, but not illegal” affair with a younger colleague.
Kevin Lygo, ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment, said he hoped to publish an independent review next month into the circumstances surrounding Schofield’s departure. But he also warned broadcasters about the pressure to sack people before facts had been established, saying: “You can ruin people’s lives by acting too quickly.”
He said the inquiry had been thorough. “We ordered an independent inquiry from this KC and she has been talking to everyone involved. They look at every single text, email, WhatsApp you’ve ever sent about this,” he said.
Lygo told the Edinburgh television festival that the lawyer had complete access to all of his messages. “I’m assured that any of it that’s not relevant to this inquiry will not be revealed … I don’t have a drug dealer phone. I just have a company phone. Everything is available.”
He also said that ITV would be willing to look at any accusations against the GB News presenter Dan Wootton if they related to his stint as a correspondent on the morning show Lorraine. Wootton is being investigated by his former employer News UK and has been suspended by MailOnline after claims that he used a pseudonym to offer thousands of pounds to colleagues for sexual images.
Lygo said: “He doesn’t work for us any more, so that makes it complicated. We haven’t any complaints about it. If anything comes to light that was untoward while he was on Lorraine, then we should have a look at it.”
He said it is always worth taking the time to fully establish facts when dealing with accusations against individuals. “I know these things can be frustrating. The most important thing is you get the facts and truth,” he said. “There’s enormous pressure from the press and social media saying, ‘You’ve got to decide’ and ‘Why didn’t you fire him?’ We don’t know what the truth is yet. You can ruin people’s lives by acting too quickly.”
Lygo also insisted that last year’s launch of the ITVX streaming service had been a success, though he admitted being “suicidally depressed” when he saw the first statistics on how many people actually watch to the end of a typical series. He said ITV was fighting a “hideous downward spiral” where audiences were losing the habit of watching linear television, losing viewers to streaming services such as Netflix.
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As part of its fightback, ITV is bringing back Big Brother to British screens. Two more series of the reality show have been commissioned.
