I t’s a cruel fate: Phillip Schofield , once the toast of morning television, must now scavenge around a Madagascan island for food, water, and shelter. He is totally isolated, his facial hair out of control. His only friends are the Channel 5 cameras dotted around the island, documenting his ordeal for the new three-part series Phillip Schofield: Cast Away .
It represents the 62-year-old presenter’s first TV role since being axed from ITV’s This Morning last year, amid a scandal over his affair with a far younger colleague . It’s the comeback nobody wanted, on the channel nobody watches, starring a man who doesn’t seem to know why he’s doing it. The ex- This Morning host’s downfall was one of the more gleefully reported publicity crises in recent memory, ending with Schofield manically vaping his way through a series of candid tell-all interviews .
Had he actually committed any crime? No. In lying about his dalliance, he had done something (in his words) “unwise but not illegal”. Was there an undercurrent of homophobia to the circus? Perhaps – wade through the sea of social media comments about Schofield, and it’s shocking just how much of the hatred towards him is homophobic in nature.
Could people have distanced themselves any faster? I should think not. One thing’s for sure: we’re still not quite sure how to talk about the whole ordeal, and on Cast Away it’s no different. Schofield discusses at length the fallout from the scandal – what he de.
