Holly's statement

The Shofield scandal is the BEST ever PR positive for that morning show. They are all delighted that it's top of the daytime TV chatter. Only one thing worse than being talked about, and that's NOT being talked about.

Everything these days involving vacuous presenters/celebs is scripted, staged, and choreographed by others. HW is acting to their script.

I don't have a TV and never watch it, so apologies if I may be missing a nuance or two!

@SerafinasGoose Did you know they’re making a TV series of Rivals on Disney Plus? I cannot wait, I really hope they do the book justice.

@SleepingStandingUp So from what we have seen we don't know the full facts of his dismissal - we know but we don't if you get me. She on the other hand does know everything and she abandoned him for the sake of her career/ contracts etc etc. This is not the action of a true friend which makes her false and not a very nice person actually.
She needs to go and let someone better present that show. There are lots of better presenters than her anyway - she winged it because of Phil.

I have no idea what this woman's done! As said previously no one blamed Dec for Ant's fall from grace. Meghan's media detractors are scrabbling around for some dirt so Holly will do for now.

dont be silly
they were never true friends
they presented a tv show together

I feel that her doing this makes it looks 10 times more than it might or might not be. I mean if your best friend has an affair with someone old enough to be their child you would be disappointed but loads of men do it with younger women. By making this statement it makes it feel like grooming took place and she is distancing herself from more revaluations to come.

Now that might be worth watching. Thanks for the tip off!

Hopefully it will be an improvement on the adaptations of Riders and The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous!

Jesus wept this is a past its sell-by date show that desperately needs credibility to survive and is no longer fit for purpose with a not very good presenter who seems to have acquired the status of the Queen. The whole thing is ridiculous. Get rid of all the nonsense content - the Speakmans, the woman who married / shagged the Eiffel Tower, the one who married a ghost and so on. More of a balance away from soaps, Love Island, reality stuff.

if your colleague resigned from work would you?

Philip Schofield and whatever producer mate he's got did that. Before him it was Judy Finnegan then Fern Briton leading the show. He handpicked Holly to fill a pretty, vacuous, regressive female role while he got to adopt gravitas way beyond his actual abilities. Should never have happened.

This. ^ Give Holly a break FFS. Phil has gone, he is NOT coming back, Holly is saying she knew nothing about his 'shenanigans' and we can do little other than believe her. People need to just get on with their life now. The obsession some posters have on here with Holly, and Phil too, is bizarre. Get a life.

If I knew about Phil’s affair in my small rural town in the west of Scotland, there is no way holly and the rest at itv didn’t. It’s totally ridiculous trying to claim otherwise. I liked holly but feel she’s handled this very poorly and actually feel sorry for Phil, who I never liked before!

Turn the telly off and go for a walk maybe?

They and their families went on holiday every year together .

only for show i imagine

Who honestly watches this crap anyway?
I'm pretty sure most of the people on here losing their shit over Schofield never watch it.
It's abysmal.

You don’t need to watch it to know what it’s all about and you’re exactly on the money @keyboardkat. This being dragged out in the tabloids is because that pair of tossers are briefing the tabloids for all they’re worth, and so are all the attached characters looking to increase their profile, Holmes, for example. How else do pictures of Phil “breaking news of his sacking to his mother on a park bench in Cornwall” get into the tabloids? Anyone can get privacy if they actually want it, especially with their resources. Holly doesn’t need to make simpering “statements” and unless she is reading out what’s written on her P45, it has zero merit.

It’s a completely out of date programme that should have been binned a long time ago, before the two presenters solidified their God complexes ideally.

I feel for all the people who have worked behind the scenes and got a kicking from these two along the way, but hopefully if the show is binned they all have useful jobs that can transfer elsewhere to a more respectful environment where key egos are kept in check (as much as is possible with attention seeking media types).

Felt fake why is she asking if we're okay

They believe the hype. They think they are actually important rather than just a tabloid soap opera providing a bit of light relief from stuff that actually matters. From a human perspective though it seemed gratuitous sticking the boot in again about him “not telling the truth”. Of course that line was just for the lawyers and producers though.

She has made it all about her. Again.
No sympathy for her or Schofield. The only person I feel sorry for is the young lad. We all know his name so there’s no protection there at all. Philip - and to a certain extent This Morning and Holly - are continuing to manipulate him, IMO.
Despite what Phil says about protecting the lad, the only person he and Holly are trying to protect are themselves and the show.

Kids' and Breakfast TV really do seem to attract them. Selina Scott recently declined an invitation to appear on an anniversary reunion of 'Breakfast Time', and penned an article saying exactly why. Frank Bough was as seedy as they come and very much among the ilk of man 'protected' by the establishment and entertainment industries. And Vanessa Feltz was recently interviewed about being assaulted by Rolf Harris on 'The Big Breakfast'.

There is some rot to be eradicated, that's for sure. But this is why ITV are making such a huge song and dance about it. Their efforts to distance themselves are making headlines more than Schofield's behaviour, and this is telling.

They are more than happy for one person to be the fall guy, because their own history shows that their environment is the cause of the problem and he's merely the symptom. It's pointless outing specific men after they're dead if it's apparent their employers have enabled and rugswept their behaviour.

IF there is any suggestion of grooming, then this allegation needs to be handled appropriately and sensitively by trained professionals. The media are ensuring it doesn't end up brushed aside as per the bad old days, but the blood hunt has gone far enough unless they want real human beings to end up as collateral damage.

Thanks!

Yeah. I'm not a fan of his, and haven't watched This Morning since Richard and Judy days, but I agree.

Holly comes across as very insincere. I can't believe she actually returned to TM as many thought she wouldn't.

She thinks the country is 'shaken' by the goings-on of some shallow, day time TV show and a presenter.

What planet is she on?

In fairness, they bought holiday villas next door to each other - which is going to be pretty awkward now. Families spent lots of time together, weekends at each others houses etc.

Holly made sure her name was firmly entwined with Philip Scofield's when she thought it would benefit her career. She's been extremely public about how he's her bestie, and how he confides in her.

Now that he's shown to be morally problematic and is persona non grata, all of a sudden she's dropped him like a stone.

I don't believe that she didn't know. At best she chose to turn a blind eye. At worse, she absolutely knew it all. Either way she doesn't deserve to escape punishment too.

She chose to hook her fortunes up to Scofield so she should be shunted off as well.

I don't think women are responsible for men's behaviour, but if you choose to act as either an enabler or you turn a blind eye to potential grooming then yes, I think there should be some consequences.

Oh god The Speakmans! How they have ever ended up on telly, I'll never know!