Phillip Schofield smiles and jokes with This Morning co-star Gyles Brandreth on night out in London
PHILLIP Schofield has been spotted smiling and joking with a This Morning co-star on a night out.
Phil, 62, had been a presenter on ITV show This Morning since 2002 but was ‘axed’ last year.
But it seems that despite calling former co-star Holly Willoughby “the witch” and lashing out at old ITV bosses, Martin Frizell and Emma Gormley recently, he has retained a close friendship with Gyles Brandreth.
Former MP and broadcaster Gyles,76, is a frequent guest on This Morning, and can often be found reviewing news stories on the sofa.
Phillip and Gyles looked in great spirits as they headed for a swanky dinner at Charlie’s restaurant in Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair.
They were joined by Gyles’ wife Michele Brown, and were reportedly dining in the restaurant for several hours.
Phillip looked smart in a black jumper and shirt, and Giles also dressed up for the occasion and looked dapper in a jacket with a white shirt underneath.
The lively group chatted away at the London eatery, before taking to the fresh air as they finished feasting.
Phillip was seen linking arms with an elderly female friend who donned a bright blue suit, as he helped as they headed to the cars and departed.
It comes after the former ITV presenter lashed out at an unnamed trio in his television comeback last week on Channel 5’s Cast Away – later revealed as Martin, Emma and Holly.
Phil was said to have reached out to Holly during her kidnap ordeal last year, but a source told the Mail that the “gloves are now off”.
“Phil was kind then but now his gloves are well and truly off,” they said.”
While a friend of Holly’s told the publication: “Phil seems determined to keep going and going on this.
“You just have to remember that Phil lied to a lot of people in his life so why would he be telling the truth now?”
Cast Away verdict
By Rod McPhee
OVER three nights – and three hour-long episodes – Phillip Schofield has been bearing his soul in new Channel 5 show Cast Away.
And it’s basically a chance for the former This Morning host to explain the circumstances that saw him leave the show last year.
To put it mildly, he left under something of a cloud, admitting he’d had a fling with a much younger runner on the programme. But in the C5 show he presents his own versions of events – one which is at odds with the narrative that emerged at the time.
He was portrayed as a man who’d had an “unwise” affair, who’d resigned as a result and had let many of his colleagues down.
But in Cast Away Philip insists he was fired by ITV and not for the affair, but because of the bad publicity that surrounded the crimes of his paedophile brother. He summed it up best when he claimed he’d been “pushed under a bus.”
After watching Cast Away what you’re left with is something rather confusing, however.
Did Philip think he’d done something wrong by having the fling with the runner, or not? For example, he said he wouldn’t have been slammed for it quite so much if it were a heterosexual fling.
He said he: “would have received a pat on the back for having an affair with a woman.” This infers that the only thing wrong with it was that it was a same sex fling. So why does he also say: “I will be forever sorry. I screwed up. I made a mistake.”
The answer, I suspect, is that the whole affair was a murky business. There were so many blurred lines around appropriateness, professionalism and honesty.
The only firm conclusion you can draw from the show is that Phillip himself isn’t ENTIRELY sure to what extent He was guilty of wrongdoing.
Amid the confusion, what will the viewing public think? I suspect that this will leave those who disliked Phillip to feel even more suspicious of him.
Those who backed him, will feel reassured too. But those who still aren’t sure what to think will be none-the-wiser – and I’m not sure if that’s what Phillip would have wanted.
Another insider revealed how Phil would take pleasure in reminding Holly that he secured her job on This Morning.
“Phil always took the credit for Holly’s success,” they said.
“And boy did he like to tell people that, including Holly.
“She, of course, knew he orchestrated the opportunity and was always very grateful, but it was thrown in her face quite a lot.
“How long did Holly have to keep thanking him for?
“But now Phil is coming across as increasingly bitter about the end of his career at ITV and he is totally rewriting history.”
The Sun has reached out to Phil and Holly’s reps for comment.
Phil’s friends told The Sun how he wanted to set the record straight on what he could not say on air — including outing the three people he blames for ending his television career.
They say he believes Holly and their This Morning boss Martin staged an “organised coup” to get him sacked after the jailing of his paedophile brother Timothy.
Phil now brands Holly — once one of his closest friends — as “the witch” who he accused directly of “bringing me down”.
He even uses a hatted hag’s emoji when discussing her with pals if she comes up.
Pals say he also accuses Emma, ITV’s managing director of daytime, of treating him “unfairly” over his departure in May 2023.