Phillip Schofield’s daughter attended a secret meeting with ITV where she demanded bosses apologise privately to her father.
The revelation comes as more details emerged surrounding Schofield’s fractured relationship with his former co-star and one time ‘best friend’ Holly Willoughby.
Schofield makes his TV comeback tonight in Channel 5 survival show Cast Away, which sees him fend for himself for 10 days on a remote island paradise, located off the coast of Madagascar.
During the three-part programme, the 62-year-old appears to blame his swift and dramatic fall from grace on a trio of former colleagues who he calls ‘the three s***ts.’ It is strongly hinted that Willoughby is one such colleague.
However, fresh details about Schofield’s departure have revealed that he did make attempts to return to the broadcaster.
The Times has reported that in the spring a meeting took place between Schofield’s former agency, YMU, ITV bosses and Schofield’s new representatives – which included his eldest daughter Molly Lowe.
Ms Lowe represents her father since YMU dropped the ex-This Morning host when the scandal broke.
In the meeting the boss of YMU, Paul Worsley, and Ms Lowe are alleged to have said they felt ITV’s treatment of Schofield during the scandal was unfair. They then also asked if the former darling of the broadcaster had been ‘blacklisted’ and if ITV would apologise privately.
ITV responded by saying they did not have a blacklist and that there would be no apology.
An insider at ITV told the The Times that Schofield had caused ITV ‘enormous pain’ after he ‘repeatedly told execs – looking them in the eye – that he was not having an affair, always denying it when asked.’
Schofield quit ITV’s This Morning after finally admitting to having lied about an ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair with a much younger male colleague.
The scandal led to the severing of ties between Schofield and ITV after 30 years and also fatally damaged his relationship with Willoughby.
Willoughby and Schofield had once been best friends and even went on family holidays together. When Schofield came out as gay in 2020 she told him during an interview on This Morning: ‘I have never been more proud of my friend than I am today.’
Now, their friendship has broken down to the extent that Willoughby – along with This Morning editor Martin Frizell and ITV chief Dame Carolyn McCall – is allegedly one of the three s***ts mentioned in the new documentary.
Schofield refers to one former colleague as ‘brand oriented.’
This has been interpreted as a reference to Willoughby’s lifestyle empire – since she has been a brand ambassador for companies such as Marks & Spencer and Diet Coke in the past.
He also seemingly mocks Willoughby’s much ridiculed return to This Morning after the scandal where she opened the show by asking viewers: ‘Are you ok?’ by repeating the line to his family.
In one outburst which will leave viewers wondering whether it is aimed at her, Schofield says: ‘When you throw someone under a bus, you’ve got to have a really bloody good reason to do it.
‘I got into telly because I love the nuts and bolts of telly, I never wanted to be famous. I’m not fussed about that.
‘I miss parts of it. I miss most of it, I’m honest. But there are bits that I really, really, really don’t miss. You learn a lot about people. I don’t miss that.’
While on the island, he continues to take aim at those who he believes wronged him, Schofield added of his formerly long-standing TV career: ‘They know how important that was to me.
‘They know when you throw someone under a bus, you’ve got to have a really bloody good reason to do it. Brand, ambition is not good enough.
‘People can be fake. They can be so fake with you when it’s all going well, and suddenly utter, utter betrayal.
‘There are a lot of amazing people in morning television.’
It comes after insiders revealed how ITV bosses are said to be furious at Schofield for claiming he would have been treated differently if he had had an affair with a woman rather than a man.
The disgraced presenter said he would have got a ‘pat on the back’ it wasn’t a homosexual relationship.
However, ITV insiders say is ‘totally untrue’ to suggest he would have been treated differently because it was a gay romance.
During the show, Schofield refers to himself as the ‘shamed, disgraced Philip Schofield, who had an affair’.
The 62-year-old said: ‘Strangely, I think another TV presenter or two might have done exactly the same thing. Difference is heterosexual. It’s not an unusual thing in the gay world for there to be a difference in age groups.’
‘That’s not that unusual in the straight world, but if that had been the case with me and it had been a woman. Pat on the back. Well done, mate.’
Schofield said that he ‘has regrets’ and acknowledges he ‘got something wrong’ and ‘hurt the people’ around him.
‘I don’t know what price you’re supposed to pay and whether the price you’re paying is necessarily proportionate,’ he adds.
Hitting back, a source at the channel previously said: ‘It’s a stupid thing for Phil to say, and it is just not true. Phil lied to his colleagues, his bosses and his friends about it, it wouldn’t have mattered if it was a woman or a man.’
They add that Schofield is unlikely to work with the channel again despite his hints that he had been approached to appear on their reality show, I’m A Celeb. One source said: ‘He lied to us, it would be really, really difficult.’
have approached Philip Schofield for a comment.