Phillip Schofield’s TV career could be over (Picture: Channel 5)
Phillip Schofield has made his highly-anticipated TV comeback on Cast Away, but some signs are pointing towards it being a short-lived return.
Since Schofield parted ways with This Morning and then ITV in May 2023 he has remained off the small screen aside from a disastrous BBC interview with Amol Rajan, which saw the 62-year-old puff on a Lost Mary while reflecting on his mistakes.
The reason he’s remained away for so long is due to the circumstances around his departure.
Schofield resigned from This Morning following weeks of speculation surrounding his fractured friendship with Holly Willoughby. Six days later he left ITV completely with immediate effect after admitting to an affair with a much younger This Morning colleague.
Before his abrupt exit, Schofield had been working in the TV industry for almost 40 years.
He might have hoped Cast Away would be the beginning of a soft re-launch of his TV career, but here are the clues that it won’t happen…
Lack of accountability
Schofield spent a week and a half on a tropical island alone (Picture: Channel 5)
The programme’s concept sees Schofield stranded on a tropical island for a week and a half. For the three-part docuseries, he is completely alone and documents his adventures in a self-tape. It is billed as ‘an authentic and intense physical and mental challenge’.
‘In the last 18 months, my life has totally unravelled. I locked myself away from the outside world. But now I want to see if the ultimate isolation can finally set me free,’ Schofield poses at the start of each episode.
It initially seems promising. Having so much time and now company other than the wildlife would surely make way for self-reflection, and accountability.
However, rather than demonstrate how much he’s grown and reflected on the events that led to his This Morning exit, he is still just angry. He described the events as happening to him, rather than acknowledging his active role.
The final episode will air tonight (Picture: Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited/Burning Bright Productions/PA Wire)
He also claims to have been fired from This Morning because of the negative publicity surrounding his brother Timothy Schofield, who was sentenced to 12 years for child abuse.
‘I will find a way. I will not be defeated,’ he said at one point.
Metro.co.uk’s TV Editor Adam Miller pointed out that the self-pitying statement is something you’d usually hear from a victim or a survivor.
‘Schofield’s biggest mistake is to present himself as either,’ wrote Adam.
‘By the end of the miniseries, he writes down all the names of the toxic people in his life and throws a list into the fire. Clearly, this entire trip has been about him forgiving the people who have wronged him and not the other way around.’
The Cast Away ratings
Just 1.4 million viewers watched the first episode (Picture: Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited / Burning Bright Productions / REX)
After 18 months away, there was a certain amount of hype around Schofield’s …read more
Source:: Metro
