Dame Joanna Lumley has sent a message of support to fallen presenter Phillip Schofield - as the former This Morning star attempts to reincarnate his ruined TV career. The Absolutely Fabulous icon, 78, was cast away off the coast of Madagascar in Girl Friday, a 1994 BBC programme that took its name from a character in Daniel Defoe’s island-set adventurer novel Robinson Crusoe. And this month, Schofield returns to screens for the first time in just over a year with a Channel 5 survival show called Cast Away.

Schofield is taking part in the three-part Channel 5 documentary special after being out of the limelight following his admission of an "unwise, but not illegal" affair with a younger colleague which ultimately destroyed his career at ITV and This Morning in 2023. As he prepares to arrive on the island for Phillip Schofield: Cast Away, Dame Joanna sent him a message saying: “Listen, Phil these are the tips I’ve got, keep your knives sharp, spend much of the day trying to find wood otherwise you won’t be able to eat anything. “When I was on the island I made a pair of shoes out of my bra.

.. and I would love to think that you could do something a bit challenging, and bring it back so we could all look at it.

I shall be thinking of you all the time Phil, and actually I’m a little bit jealous, lots of love.” Schofield, 62, said in reaction: “Oh you darling, thank you so much, that’s amazing.” When comedian Ruby Wax was left on an island in the Indian Ocean f.