Morninggate - Deadline: “We Do Not Recognize A Culture Of Toxicity On ‘This Morning’,” Say ITV Bosses

Story from Deadline:

“We do not recognise a toxic culture at This Morning,” ITV boss Carolyn McCall has said bullishly during her committee hearing on the Phillip Schofield affair.

The CEO said she has “tangible evidence” that the vast majority of people working on the show and on ITV’s roster of daytime programs “are extremely engaged and very motivated.”

She was responding to a barrage of questions relating to toxicity on This Morning since former host Schofield resigned in disgrace after admitting he had an affair with a much younger runner over a period of years. The runner is not being named but referred to as Person X.

We do not recognise a toxic culture at This Morning,” said McCall. “[The accusations] deeply disappoints me.”

McCall said she has had two complaints about issues of toxicity on This Morning during her ITV stint, one of which was private and the other publicly disclosed by former contributor Ranj Singh, which was not upheld. Singh has taken his issues to Twitter over the past weeks since the Schofield affair spilled out into the open.

McCall provided survey results of ITV daytime shows stating that 89% of people were proud to work at ITV, 86% would recommend ITV daytime as a “great place to work” and 80% were happy with how they were managed.

She said there are “many ways people can make themselves heard” if they take issue with a production.

Programs boss Kevin Lygo questioned why former ITV presenters who have blasted the show for being toxic had not raised this during their time with ITV.

“They worked as presenters on ITV for very long times and there was never any complaint from when they were there,” said Lygo. “And if anything they wanted more work from us [while they were working at ITV]. It’s not surprising that when they go they’re suddenly saying ‘Ooh I hate ITV’ but when they were there everyone seemed to get on.”

McCall earlier told the Culture, Media & Sport Committee that “no evidence” was brought to her and her team during Schofield’s affair as she indicated the relationship was “deeply inappropriate.”