Phillip Schofield blames brother Timothy for This Morning axe despite reporting him to police

Phillip Schofield opened up on his sacking from ITV's This Morning on Cast Away, and blamed his brother Timothy's crimes for costing him his job

As fans watched the finale of Cast Away, Phillip Schofield claimed he was sacked from This Morning because of his brother's actions.

The former presenter, 62, refused to name or acknowledge brother Timothy during an emotional speech on the Channel 5 show. However, he blamed his "heinous crime" for costing him his job on the ITV morning show.

Phillip's younger sibling was sentenced to 12 years behind bars, having been found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy. The abuse happened over a three-year period, with Timothy charged with 11 sexual offences involving a child between the years 2016 and 2019. Two of the offences were for sexual activity with a child.

Speaking to the camera from the deserted island, Schofield said: "I had absolutely no qualms whatsoever in shopping him. We were praised by the police and we got justice done. But still, even though they knew all of the facts the papers painted me out to be some sort of complicit agent."

He said it was at that moment his "world started to collapse". He claimed ITV knew he hadn't done anything wrong in regards to his brother's crimes, but said on the day before Timothy was sentenced, he received news he was no longer going to front This Morning.

"My phone rang and I picked it up," Phillip explained as he opened up on the conversation with his agent. "'Mate are you somewhere quiet' which is never a good sign. yeah. okay alright. I’ve got a bit of a shock. right. I’m afraid you've been let go from This Morning. what? yeah that’s it, it’s done. You’re not going back on Monday."

He explained his agent told him the "publicity" his brother's actions had brought led to the decision. "That has nothing to do with me," he went on. "Why would I be sacked for something someone else did. I’ve just been fired because of him."

"Because I was becoming more of a story than the programme. It was better for the show, better for the channel. And I agreed to say that I'd resigned because it would be neater for everybody."

Speaking in the voiceover, Phillip said he had always been open and honest with people about his brother's situation and crime. "I was fired for the bad publicity, for someone else's crime. And the thing is about a week later, I blew my own wheels off with everything else because I thought the only way to even begin to put this right for everybody is to do a full mea culpa."

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