Phillip Schofield

Phillip Bryan Schofield (born 1 April 1962)[2] is an English television presenter who works for ITV. He is the co-presenter of This Morning (2002–present) and Dancing on Ice (2006–2014, 2018–present) alongside Holly Willoughby. His other work for ITV includes All Star Mr & Mrs (2008–2016), The Cube (2009–2015, 2020–present), and 5 Gold Rings (2017–present).

This article is about the television presenter. For the medieval historian, see Phillipp Schofield.

Phillip Schofield
Schofield in April 2007 presenting This Morning
Born
Phillip Bryan Schofield

(1962-04-01) 1 April 1962
Oldham, Lancashire, England
Citizenship
OccupationTelevision presenter
Years active1982–present
EmployerITV (current)
BBC (former)
Spouse(s)
Stephanie Lowe
(
m. 1993)
Children2
Websitewww.officialphillipschofield.com

Schofield gained national attention working for the BBC, first as a continuity presenter for Children's BBC on weekdays from 1985 to 1987, then as a presenter on the children's Saturday morning magazine show Going Live! between September 1987 and April 1993.

Early life

Schofield was born in Oldham, Lancashire.[2] He grew up in Newquay, Cornwall, where he attended Trenance Infant School and Newquay Tretherras School.[3][4] When he was 15, his first foray into media was a Sunday show on Hospital Radio Plymouth.[3]

After many years of writing letters to the BBC, at 17, Schofield took up the position of bookings clerk and tea boy for BBC Radio at Broadcasting House in London, where he was, at the time, the youngest employee.[3]

Career

Television

Aged 19, Schofield moved with his family to New Zealand, where he made his television debut as the initial presenter of the youth music programme Shazam! on 23 February 1982.[5] He also spent two years working for the Auckland-based station Radio Hauraki.[3]

In 1985, he returned to Britain, where he became the first in-vision continuity presenter for Children's BBC on weekdays for two years from September 1985 in what was known as the 'Broom Cupboard'.[6][3] He left to present Going Live! on Saturday mornings between September 1987 and April 1993.[3] From 1988 to 1991, he was the host of the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, a pop-magazine awards show.

In the early 1990s, Schofield moved to adult-orientated television with various programmes for ITV, such as Schofield's Quest, Schofield's TV Gold and Ten Ball. From 1994 to 1997, he presented Talking Telephone Numbers for five series and in 1996 he hosted a show about remarkable coincidences called One in a Million. He co-authored the book that came out of the series.

In the following decade, Schofield presented the National Lottery Winning Lines programme for BBC One between June 2001 and October 2004. And between 2002 and 2006, he co-hosted the BBC quiz show Test the Nation with Anne Robinson. In July 2006, he signed an exclusive two-year contract with ITV, reported to have been worth £5 million. The exclusive deal also meant he could no longer present Test the Nation and was replaced by Danny Wallace.[7]

Since 2002, Schofield has been a presenter on the ITV daytime show This Morning replacing John Leslie with Fern Britton until 2009 and with Holly Willoughby who replaced Britton in September that year. In May 2008, Schofield's father, Brian, died from a long-standing heart condition, which led to Schofield taking a break from presenting This Morning. John Barrowman stood in for him until his return.

Starting in 2005, Schofield presented two series of Have I Been Here Before?, a daytime programme where a celebrity attempted to use regression to get in touch with a previous life.

Since 2006, he has presented The British Soap Awards. Between 2006 and 2008, he hosted the programme with Fern Britton but since 2009, alone.

During the run of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, he co-hosted the spin-off series I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here! Exclusive with Sheree Murphy. The show lasted one series. In 2006, Schofield presented two episodes of the ITV game show It's Now or Never, before the network cancelled the show, due to poor ratings.[8]

Schofield presented Dancing on Ice on ITV with Holly Willoughby from 2006 until 2011 and Christine Bleakley from 2012 until 2014. It was announced in the summer of 2013 that Dancing on Ice was to come to an end following the 2014 series.[9][10] Schofield returned to co-present the show in 2018 following ITV's choice to reboot the series after four years away.

Since April 2008, he and Fern Britton hosted a revival of the ITV game show Mr. and Mrs., renamed as All Star Mr & Mrs. In 2010, the show took a break but returned in 2012 without Britton.

From 2009 until 2015, he presented the primetime game show The Cube. Schofield returned to present the show in 2020 following ITV's choice to reboot the series after five years away. He also hosted A Night of Heroes: The Sun Military Awards with Amanda Holden from 2009 until 2014.

In 2010 and 2011, Schofield hosted the annual comedy show The Comedy Annual on ITV. From 2011 until 2015, He co-hosted the Christmas charity show Text Santa on ITV with Christine Lampard in 2011, 2014 and 2015 and Holly Willoughby in 2012 and 2013.[11]

In April 2011 and June 2012, Schofield co-hosted ITV's coverage of the Royal Wedding and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee with Julie Etchingham.

In March 2014, Schofield narrated the one-off ITV2 show Educating Joey Essex. The show was commissioned for a full series which was aired throughout 2014.[12][13] The show was commissioned for a seven part second series, filming began in April 2016 and the series will air in summer 2016 with the first episode titled "The Queen's 90th Birthday".

In December 2014, he undertook a live 24-hour TV marathon to raise money for Text Santa,[14][15] where, as well as appearing on This Morning, he appeared on various other programmes throughout the day, including being a guest panellist on Loose Women.

He presented two series of the primetime game show You're Back in the Room for ITV in 2015 and 2016.[16]

In 2016, he travelled to South Africa with his wife, as part of a series of short clips for This Morning. Following this, ITV aired a 3x30 minute episodes in a primetime slot, called Schofield's South African Adventure. Since March 2017, he has presented 5 Gold Rings, a new game show format for ITV.[17][18] In 2017, Schofield presented three-part factual series How To Spend It Well at Christmas with Phillip Schofield in which he tested the latest must-have festive gifts.[19]

Radio

While working as presenter of Going Live!, Schofield was also broadcasting on BBC Radio 1 with a Sunday show (also called Going Live). When Radio 1 made the switch from medium wave to full use of FM stereo in 1988, Schofield was one of the presenters chosen to help with the launch.

In February 2010, Schofield launched Radio Plymouth in Devon.[20]

Theatre

Schofield tried his hand at theatre and took over the role of Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat from Jason Donovan on the West End stage in 1991. The second musical he performed in was the title role of Doctor Dolittle at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, before touring the UK. In March 2018, Schofield reprised his role as Joseph for an episode of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

Other interests

Music

While appearing in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Schofield was approached to record a cover of "Close Every Door" to be released as a single. The single was released in December 1992 on Polydor Records and peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart.[21]

Wine

Schofield collects Bordeaux wines, an interest kindled by friend Jason Donovan. Asked in 1992 to introduce a compilation video for Donovan, Schofield refused to accept payment. Stock, Aitken and Waterman sent him two cases of Burgundy with a set of tasting notes; he joined the Wine Society two years later.[22]

In 2013, Schofield began writing for the Waitrose Weekend newspaper, and has been the face of wine in their UK stores ever since.[23] Schofield has a separate Twitter account about wine called @SchofeOnWine.

Controversies

David Cameron This Morning interview

On 8 November 2012, Schofield interviewed the then prime minister David Cameron on This Morning, and presented him with a list he had obtained from the internet of five people named as paedophiles in connection with the North Wales child abuse scandal.[24] The names of several former senior Conservative politicians were visible on the list.[25] Schofield was widely criticised for his action,[24] with broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby describing his behaviour as "cretinous".[26] Cameron responded by warning against a witchhunt, "particularly about people who are gay". ITV's director of television, Peter Fincham, said that Schofield was "wrong" in confronting Cameron and said that the broadcaster had agreed to co-operate fully with government regulator Ofcom's investigation into the matter. The investigation was initiated after Ofcom received 415 complaints from viewers. Schofield later apologised, blaming a misjudged camera angle.[25] Schofield and ITV later paid £125,000 compensation to settle a libel suit from one of those falsely accused, Lord McAlpine.[27]

Personal life

Schofield has dual British and New Zealand citizenship.[1][28] He married his long-term partner Stephanie Lowe in March 1993;[29] the couple have two daughters.[30] They reside in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.[31]

Schofield is a patron of the charity Shooting Star Children's Hospices, which offers help and support to families of children who are not expected to reach their 19th birthday.[32] In conjunction with rose specialist C&K Jones, he launched the Schofield rose in support of CHASE (the former name of Shooting Star) at Gardeners' World in June 2006: each rose sold attracted a donation to CHASE. Schofield is also an ambassador for children's charity Kidscape and age-positive charity Royal Voluntary Service, previously known as WRVS.[33]

On 8 October 2012, Schofield became an Honorary Patron of the Blue Lamp Foundation, a UK based charity which raises money to support emergency services personnel who have been injured in the course of duty.[34]

On 7 February 2020, Schofield came out as gay via a statement posted on his Instagram story, followed up in an interview on This Morning, stating that "with the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I am gay".[30][35]

Honours
  • 2011 — Plymouth University Honorary Doctorate[36]

Filmography
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1982–1987 Shazam! Presenter 6 series
1987–1993 Going Live! 6 series
1988–1991 Smash Hits Poll Winners Party
1994–1997 Talking Telephone Numbers 4 series
1995 Tenball 1 series
1996 One in a Million
2001–2004 National Lottery Winning Lines 4 series
2002–present This Morning Co-presenter Monday–Thursday
2002–2006 Test the Nation 17 episodes
2006 I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! Exclusive 1 series
It's Now or Never Presenter 2 episodes
2006–2014, 2018–present Dancing on Ice Co-presenter 12 series
2006–present The British Soap Awards Presenter Annually
2008–2009 Beat the Star Guest presenter 2 episodes
2008–2016 All Star Mr & Mrs Presenter 8 series
2009–2015, 2020–present[37] The Cube 9 series
2009–2014 A Night of Heroes: The Sun Military Awards Co-presenter 6 episodes
2010–2011 The Comedy Annual Presenter 2 episodes
2011 The Royal Wedding of Prince William & Kate Middleton Alongside Julie Etchingham One-off special
2011–2015 Text Santa Co-presenter 5 episodes
2012 The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Alongside Julie Etchingham One-off special
2014–2016 Educating Joey Essex Narrator 2 series
2014 Phillip's Live 24 Hour TV Marathon for Text Santa[38] Presenter One-off special
2015–2016 You're Back in the Room 2 series
2016 When Phillip Met Prince Philip: 60 Years of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award[39] One-off episode
2017 Schofield's South African Adventure Three-part documentary
2017–present 5 Gold Rings 3 series
2017–present How To Spend It Well at Christmas with Phillip Schofield 3 series
2018 The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry & Megan Markle Alongside Julie Etchingham One-off special
How To Spend It Well: House and Garden with Phillip Schofield Presenter One-off special
Coronation Street Himself Cameo
2020 The British Soap Awards Celebrates 21 Years[40] Narrator One-off special
How To Spend It Well: Holiday with Phillip Schofield Presenter Upcoming series
Film
Year Title Role Notes
2012 Keith Lemon: The Film Himself Cameo
Stage
Year Title Role Notes
1992–1997 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph
1998–1999 Doctor Dolittle Doctor Dolittle At Hammersmith Apollo
2016– Knights of Music[41] Himself/host Held annually

Bibliography
  • One in a Million (with Peter A. Hough, Michael O'Mara Books, 1996) ISBN 9781854792402
  • Life is What You Make It (2020)

Fun File
  • The First Phillip Schofield Fun File (Random House Children's Books, 1988) ISBN 9780553175493
  • The Second Phillip Schofield Fun File (Bantam Books, 1989) ISBN 9780553175509

Gordon the Gopher
  • The Adventures of Gordon T. Gopher (Knight Books, 1989) ISBN 9780340499481
  • Phillip Schofield's Gordon T. Gopher Annual (World International Publishing Ltd., 1988) ISBN 9780723568339
gollark: And?
gollark: *Among* the worst, probably.
gollark: New Zealand seems to have been doing pretty great in terms of *direct* impacts, but I think had big economic problems.
gollark: The US does not have completely free speech either.
gollark: It's not some sort of conspiracy-theoretic thing to say that the US has ridiculously broad surveillance, there was Snowden and everything else.

References
  1. "Ten Things You Never Knew About Phillip Schofield". Digital Spy. 11 February 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  2. Debrett's People of Today 2005 (18th ed.). Debrett's. p. 1459. ISBN 1-870520-10-6.
  3. "Phillip's Biography Page". Pfficialphillipschofield.com. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
  4. "TV presenter at old school". The West Briton. 13 April 2011. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014.
  5. "Shazam! series". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Schofield signs golden handcuffs ITV deal". Digital Spy.
  8. "ITV swiftly axes primetime show". BBC News. 27 July 2006. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  9. "ITV to replace 'Dancing on Ice' with "juggernaut entertainment series"". Digital Spy. 3 July 2013.
  10. "'Dancing on Ice' to air final series in 2014, confirms Torvill and Dean". Digital Spy. 21 May 2013.
  11. "ITV's star line-up for bigger and better Text Santa". Press Centre.
  12. Eames, Tom (25 February 2014). "Joey Essex ITV2 Africa series title revealed, Phillip Schofield to narrate". Digital Spy.
  13. Greenwood, Carl (26 February 2014). "Phillip Schofield to narrate Educating Joey Essex which sees the reality star travelling to Africa". Daily Mirror.
  14. "Phillip Schofield 24-hour live TV marathon for Text Santa". ITV Press Centre. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  15. "Phillip Schofield completes 24-hour TV marathon". BBC News. 2 December 2014.
  16. "You're Back In The Room". ITV Press Centre. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  17. "Phillip Schofield to host brand new ITV quiz show 5 Gold Rings". Press Centre.
  18. "Phillip Schofield lands another new ITV gameshow". 11 January 2017.
  19. "ITV announces new consumer series - How To Spend It Well At Christmas [W/T]". Press Centre.
  20. "Schofield launches Radio Plymouth – RadioToday". radiotoday.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2018.
  21. "Chart Archive – Phillip Schofield – Close Every Door". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
  22. Atkin, Tim (21 April 2001). "My wine cellar". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
  23. "Phillip Schofield teams up with Waitrose". James Grant Management. 22 March 2013. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013.
  24. "Phillip Schofield criticised for paedophile list 'stunt'". BBC News. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  25. Burrell, Ian (8 November 2012). "Downing Street attacks Phillip Schofield for ambushing Prime Minister with internet-sourced list of suspected paedophiles". The Independent. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  26. Mason, Rowena (8 November 2012). "Phillip Schofield reported to Ofcom over paedophile list". The Daily Telegraph.
  27. Gover, Dominic (22 November 2012). "Lord McAlpine Wins £125,000 from ITV for Philip Schofield Child Sex Smears".
  28. "Phillip Schofield on Twitter". Twitter.com.
  29. "Phillip Schofield shares rare family photo with daughters and wife". Yahoo! News. 15 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  30. "Phillip Schofield: ITV presenter comes out as gay". BBC News. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  31. "Television presenter opens fete in home village". Henleystandard.co.uk. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  32. "Patrons". Shooting Star Children's Hospices. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  33. "Kidscape Staff, Trustees, Patrons, Volunteers". Kidscape.org.uk. 2010. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  34. "About The BLF: Our patrons". Blue Lamp Foundation. 2016. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  35. "Phillip Schofield announces he is gay". ITV News. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  36. "Schofield gets honorary doctorate". BBC News. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  37. "The Cube is back with a one million pound jackpot". ITV Press Centre. 15 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  38. "Have you spotted you spotted The Scofe popping up all over ITV for #PipKnit?". 1 December 2015.
  39. "When Phillip Met Prince Philip: 60 Years of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (w/t)". Press Centre.
  40. Lindsay, Duncan (31 March 2020). "The British Soap Awards 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic". Metro. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  41. "The Knights Of Music". Knights of Music.

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