I’m a PR whiz – how Phillip Schofield’s sudden absence from This Morning sparked chaos and the key return question

WHEN presenter Phillip Schofield was unable to take his seat on the iconic This Morning sofa last week, fans scratched their heads

The always cheerful star and his co-host Holly Willoughby usually let viewers know when they’re taking a break, but this time there was no warning from Phil.

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Instead, fans tuned in to see Alison Hammond co-star with Holly, who joked, “Phillip has the week off so all the adults have left the building.”

Holly’s cheerful demeanor hid the real reason for Phil’s absence, which only came to light hours later. His brother Timothy was accused in court of molesting a teenager – and the TV presenter’s written statement was part of the arraignment process.

After his sibling was yesterday convicted of 11 sex offenses involving a child over the age of three as of October 2016, including two for sexual activity, Phil released a statement saying: “As far as I’m concerned, I no longer have a brother. “

Sources told the Daily Mail that very few people on the ITV set knew of Timothy Schofield’s upcoming trial and executives kept it away from the hall’s staff.

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His absence was so silent that the production staff only found out when they realized that no cars had been booked to transport Schofield from his home to the west London studio for the whole week.

PR expert James Herring said it would not have been easy to keep colleagues in the dark.

He said: “It’s clearly been a very difficult situation for This Morning and everyone at ITV.

“It must have been incredibly complex and very difficult to manage.

“It’s your worst nightmare, especially when you’re hosting a daily live TV show. It’s a different scenario when it’s a scripted drama that’s scheduled to go out at a specific time.

“When a family member becomes involved in a scandal, it partially affects the TV presenter involved.

“It’s an unfair situation as Phillip didn’t do anything wrong. He was drawn into this by association.

“I’m sure it was very difficult to wrap a story like this in a television environment where everything is pretty chatty and people are talking.

“They’ve also gotten the public to go on social media and comment so it’s impossible to hide something like that. Impossible.

“I think it says a lot about the loyalty of his production team that it took a while for the story to surface.”

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Phil is now reportedly taking a two-week break from This Morning over Easter and ITV producers are faced with the tricky question of whether to mention his brother on his return.

James said: “ITV says Schofield is on a planned holiday, which is entirely feasible given it’s Easter and a lot of the DJs and presenters are taking that time off.

“If he comes back, he is under no obligation to mention what happened.

“He owes viewers nothing for releasing a public statement making his feelings clear.

“He said how he felt about his brother and distanced himself from him. What is left to say? I think he probably considers the matter closed now.”

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Holly took to Instagram to praise close pal Schofield’s replacement, Alison Hammond, and Masked Singer host Joel Dommett last week.

Phil celebrated his 61st birthday on Saturday and This Morning posted a celebratory message on his Instagram with pictures of Schofe with co-stars including Alison and Holly.

The show has been hit by a number of scandals over the past year.

A man has been arrested after Alison Hammond, 48, claimed she had been blackmailed in a sinister blackmail scheme.

The presenter called the police after the man allegedly threatened to spread lies about her if she didn’t give her large sums of money.

Last September, Phil and Holly were embroiled in controversy after using press passes to skip the line to see the Queen in state.

In what became known as ‘Queuegate’, Holly defended the move on This Morning and Phil is said to have claimed he was unfairly targeted. Bosses insisted there was no wrongdoing.

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