PHIL'S PAIN

As his former best friend returns to our screens on Dancing on Ice, it's reopening old wounds for Phillip Schofield

Holly Willoughby made her TV return on Dancing on Ice last month, after quitting This Morning in October over an alleged plot to kidnap her. But one person who is unlikely to be watching is Phillip Schofield. He was once Holly’s righthand man on and off screen, but after their fall-out following Phillip’s ‘unwise, but not illegal’ affair with a younger male colleague, Phillip, 61, is said to be finding it too tough to watch his former friend present the show with Stephen Mulhern. A source revealed, ‘Phil is still bruised by the whole Holly falling-out and the way it was played out publicly.

‘He still can’t bring himself to watch This Morning and even listening to the theme tune is deeply triggering. It would seem unlikely he is avidly tuning in to watch Holly’s return to TV. He reached out to offer his support when the awful kidnap news broke, but it’s understood they have not been in contact since, so he’s probably not spoken to Holly ahead of her DOI return.’

TIME TO MOVE ON?

After almost 18 years of presenting with Holly – they began hosting DOI together in 2006, before Holly joined This Morning in 2009 – it’s hardly surprising that Phillip is finding her first series of the show without him tough to swallow.

Last year, Phil admitted his devastation at losing his beloved TV career, which spanned more than three decades, saying, ‘I have to talk about television in the past tense, which breaks my heart. I have lost everything. I see nothing ahead of me but blackness, and sadness, and regret, and remorse, and guilt.’