A senior manager on ITV’s Loose Women sent an email to the channel’s top bosses to raise “serious concerns” about the welfare of the young man who had an affair with Phillip Schofield, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
ITV chiefs told MPs last month that they were unaware of concerns about the production assistant, who worked with Mr Schofield on This Morning during their relationship.
But The Mail on Sunday can disclose that sources at the channel believe bosses, including managing director for entertainment Kevin Lygo, knew of an email that outlined worries about the man’s wellbeing.
The email warned that ITV had a duty of care towards him as a vulnerable employee. Sources close to Mr Lygo say he has “no recollection” of it.
No formal investigation was launched.
There was no mention of this correspondence at a Commons select committee hearing which saw Mr Lygo and ITV’s chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall be questioned about the scandal last month.
The email was sent in early 2020 when rumours were rife within ITV that Mr Schofield had been in an on-off relationship with the man – whom the network refers to as Person X.
By then he had been moved from This Morning to Loose Women, following the end of the relationship.
He was later paid off by the network after a short stint there.
The Mail on Sunday can also reveal that a number of the star panellists on Loose Women made their fears known to the show’s executives, who thought it was their duty to raise these with people higher up.
Eamonn Holmes said that he and his wife Ruth Langsford – an anchor on Loose Women – knew that the man, now in his mid-20s, was ‘fragile’ and ‘in a bad way’ during the early months of 2020 and they looked after him.
One source told this newspaper: “Early 2020 was a very difficult time for a number of people working on Loose Women. They were deeply saddened to see Person X’s mental health deteriorate. They would see him struggle at work but also outside of it, too; they witnessed him in some worrying states.
“His behaviour had become increasingly volatile, which now all makes sense. At the time various people had heard rumours about his relationship and it was thought that the fact he needed help with his mental health ought to be escalated to those higher up so he could get some support. It was then that the senior manager decided to put it in writing so there would be a paper trail of their concerns.”
However, Mr Lygo was left almost speechless during the select committee hearing when he was questioned by MP John Nicolson over whether he had ever been approached by senior management with concerns about presenters, editors or the culture at This Morning.
Mr Lygo replied: “I don’t think any that I can recall, honestly,” before Mr Nicolson revealed a copy of an email purporting to show that concerns about Mr Schofield’s conduct were raised in 2021.
The correspondence – allegedly sent to an ITV staff member by someone on Mr Lygo’s team – set out that, at a meeting on October 4, 2021, the staff member “referred to concerns about the conduct of Phillip Schofield and another colleague working on This Morning”.
The email continued: “I’m not able to share all the details, but I can find no evidence to suggest that Kevin Lygo failed to take action on the allegations that you have raised with him.”
Meanwhile, sources at ITV say that those at the top of the organisation are now privately conceding that barrister Jane Mulcahy KC, who is conducting the external investigation into the Schofield scandal and the toxic working culture at This Morning, may find some evidence of incidents that the company had profusely denied taking place.
An ITV spokesman said: “We do not have a record of the emails described,” adding that the network has given the runner ongoing care.
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