Phillip Schofield quits – live: This Morning star leaves show after Holly Willoughby ‘feud’

Amid reports that Phillip Schofield may be headed to Channel Five, what we have heard so far would suggest that ITV is very much intending to keep him on their channel.

“We look forward to continuing our relationship with Phillip starting with The British Soap Awards in June and a brand new peak time series to come”, said Kevin Lygo, ITV’s managing director of media and entertainment in a statement.

“Phillip is hands down one of the best broadcasters of his generation and we thank him for his two decades worth of absolutely terrific television on the This Morning sofa.”

Schofield began working on This Morning in 2002, with Holly Willoughby joining him in 2009.

It is unclear what the new “peak time” programme is at this point, but it would seem ITV are loathe to drop a figure who is widely regarded as one of their top presenting talents.

Following his departure, here is a look at the runners and riders who could replace Phillip Schofield on the sofa.

ITV has already said Holly Willoughby will remain on the show and will “co-present with members of the This Morning family”, but who are thr favourites?

The 49-year-old broadcaster is a hot contender as he currently co-hosts This Morning alongside Alison Hammond on Fridays, taking over from Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford in 2021.

The beloved presenter, 48, is also a strong possibility due to her experience on the show, with Ladbrokes making her the favourite with 2/1 odds.

However, her schedule may be full as it was announced earlier this year that she will be joining The Great British Bake Off as the show’s new co-host alongside comedian Noel Fielding from the next series.

The Saturdays singer, and former host of The Xtra Factor, is a regular guest host on This Morning.

She also filled in for Willoughby on the breakfast show when the TV star flew to Australia in 2018 to stand in for Ant McPartlin on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!. Humes, 34, who currently presents BBC One gameshow The Hit List with her husband, JLS star Marvin, has been given 6/1 odds.

The singer, 38, has presented alongside his wife Rochelle on This Morning on a number of occasions since 2013 making him another strong option, with 8/1 odds.

The X Factor singer-turned-presenter, 34, used to regularly host segments on This Morning and has also stepped in to present the show on occasion. It was also announced last month that he was quitting as as a presenter of Strictly Come Dancing’s spin-off show It Takes Two. He has 3/1 odds.

The 2010 Big Brother winner, 38, joined the ITV show in 2019 and has co-hosted on a number of occasions as a relief presenter. Gibson, who has fronted the programme alongside the likes of Vernon Kay, has been given 10/1 odds.

The Italian TV chef, 46, could be a surprise addition to the This Morning coach, with Ladbrokes giving him odds of 25/1.

He rose to fame as a regular cook on the ITV morning show and has since presented cookery programmes including Let’s Do Lunch and Gino’s Italian Escape.

I don’t mean that it should be bad, I just mean that it should be a lull. Something you had on in the background when you were off school sick or, as an adult, something you had on over breakfast on a day off.

As someone with who follows politics and current affairs, it’s also useful for tracking when a story has “broken through”; in other words when something on my “For You” tab on Twitter is featuring in more mainstream discourse. There’s a reason why This Morning is listed as a magazine programme. It’s a TV show covering stories that you might read about in a dentist’s waiting room. The magazine is never the story, it’s the means through which we access the story. So the fact that Phillip Schofield had – as he acknowledged on his Instagram page – become the story himself, posed a problem.

Read more from Clare Morrison here:

Timothy Schofield, 54, was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child, after a trial at Exeter Crown Court.

Schofield, a civilian police worker who was today jailed for 12 years, told the jury while giving evidence that he had watched pornography with the boy who he insisted was over the age of 16 at the time.

Emily Atkinson has more here:

Following Schofield’s announcement, we take a look back at his final sign-off from the show on Thursday 18 May.

On Saturday (20 May) afternoon, Phillip Schofield announced that he was stepping down from presenting This Morning amid his reported feud with co-host Holly Willoughby.

The presenter said that he was leaving with “immediate effect”, as “ITV has decided the current situation can’t go on”.

Last week, former The Morning host Eamonn Holmes took aim at Schofield and Willoughby amid their reported fall-out.

“I think there should’ve been a special award for Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby for best actors,” he said.

“The public surely have sussed that there’s no chemistry, that there’s a broken fit between the two of them.”

On Friday (19 May), Phillip’s brother Timothy was jailed for 12 years, weeks after being found guilty of multiple child sex offences spanning a four-year period.

In April, Timothy was convicted of 11 sexual offences involving a child between October 2016 and October 2019, including two of sexual activity with a child.

Following the verdict, Phillip – who was absent from This Morning during the trial – disowned his sibling, saying: “I no longer have a brother.”

Another celebrity to weigh into the alleged Schofield-Willoughby feud was Kim Woodburn, who didn’t mince words as she called Willoughby “a two-faced b****”.

You can read her full comments below…