Dr Ranj Singh has said he believes speaking out about alleged ‘bullying and discrimination’ on This Morning was ‘the right thing to do’.
The former resident doctor of ITV’s flagship show said his comments about the show’s culture were not about Phillip Schofield ‘at all’.
Dr Ranj left the programme two years ago and released a statement on clarifying why he had left shortly after Schofield’s own ITV departure in the wake of his secret affair revelations.
The former This Morning presenter left the show after more than 20 years and resigned from the broadcaster altogether a week later, after admitting he had an ‘unwise but not illegal’ relationship with a runner on the show.
The pair had met when the young man was 15, but the 61-year-old said that the affair only began when he was 20 years old, however Schofield has since admitted he did lie about the nature of their relationship to his bosses and colleagues.
He went on to give several explosive interviews with The Sun and the BBC, addressing the scandal, Holly Willoughby and his mental health.
In the meantime, Dr Ranj was also dropping bombshells about the show, as he hit out at a ‘toxic’ culture, saying he raised concerns while working at ITV – and afterwards felt like he was ‘managed out’ for whistleblowing.
At the Attitude Pride Awards 2023, Dr Ranj discussed the social media statement, saying: ‘I did everything I was supposed to do and everything that I believed was the right thing to do and hopefully some good will come out of all of this.
‘That was the key thing behind it. It wasn’t about me. It wasn’t about Phillip at all.
‘I’ve made no comment on that situation and my point was about creating a better working environment for everybody and hopefully something good will come of it.
‘Generally speaking, workplaces need to be good for people’s well being.
‘Okay we all work in pressurised areas, I work in the NHS it’s really pressurised. But it’s really really important that we look after our staff and our employees as well.’
Phillip Schofield’s tell-all interview: The key points
Phillip Schofield bared all in interviews with The Sun and BBC amid the fallout of confessing to an affair with a This Morning runner. Here is what he said:
‘I did not groom him’
Schofield insists he is not a groomer, saying that while he met the former colleague while he was a teenager, their interactions were innocent and only became sexual when the runner was around 20/21 years old.
He said it never felt like an ‘abuse of power’ because they were ‘mates’.
The affair began in 2017
He has said that the affair began after a ‘consensual moment’ in his dressing room.
‘It was not a love affair, it was not a relationship, we were not boyfriends; we were mates,’ he insisted. ‘It wasn’t feelings (I was getting), it was more like mates: excitement.’
His wife is ‘very, very angry’
The affair took place while Schofield was married to wife Stephanie Lowe, with whom he shares two daughters.
On the moment he told his wife, he said: ‘She got off a plane and I phoned her up and texted saying, “I need to talk to you”. She called back and I told her. She was very, very angry.’
Schofield still wears his wedding ring, but explained that he and Stephanie are ‘separated’.
His daughters saved his life
Schofield confessed to feeling suicidal amid the fallout of his affair and the ‘relentless’ media attention.
His two daughters – Molly, 29, and Ruby, 27 – have been ‘afraid’ to leave his side and warned him: ‘Don’t you dare do this on our watch.’
‘If it hadn’t been for my girls last week, I wouldn’t be here.’
He has apologised to Holly Willoughby
After rumours of a fallout between the pair and after Holly Willoughby said she was lied to by Schofield after asking him about his affair, he has apologised to his former co-presenter.
He said: ‘I’ve lost my best friend. I let her down (Holly). I let that entire show down. I let the viewers down.
‘Holly did not know (about the romance). And she was one of the first texts that I sent, to say, “I am so, so sorry that I lied to you”.’
He will ‘die sorry’ to the runner he had the affair with
‘I have massive guilt, and regret. I’ve made a mistake, I’ve had an affair at work. I think my greatest apology must go to him. It has brought the greatest misery into his totally innocent life, his totally innocent family, his totally innocent friends.
‘It has brought the greatest grief to them.’
The colleague has not been named in the press for his privacy.
No pay-offs
Schofield denied allegations that the runner received hush money from ITV, saying the promotion he got wasn’t to ‘move him on’ but because of his own talents.
He also insisted that the young man did not sign an NDA preventing him from speaking out.
Comparing age gap backlash to ‘homophobia’
‘So yeah, there’s a difference. It’s accepted by Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s not accepted if it’s in the gay world,’ he said of age differences.
‘Attraction is attraction. It’s no different in the gay world as it is in the heterosexual world or in the lesbian world. There shouldn’t be a difference. This is where homophobia comes in.’
Eamonn Holmes is an ‘angry’ man
After Eamonn Holmes made a series of strong allegations against Schofield, he said the Irish TV presenter is just ‘angry’ he’s not on This Morning anymore.
He also continuously denied that This Morning is ‘toxic’.
Doesn’t think he’ll work in TV again
Schofield said it ‘breaks [my] heart’ to talk about TV in the past tense, but he doesn’t see a way back for him.
‘I do not think I will be able to walk down a street ever again. It is like everybody knows.
‘I’ve lost everything. It’s all gone,’ he said frankly.
‘Telly was my safe space, the one thing I loved. Now I don’t know if I will ever work on telly again.’
Asked whether he would ever make a return to This Morning, Dr Ranj added: ‘I work on Morning Live now which gets double the ratings.’
In his original statement, Dr Ranj said he had thought ‘long and hard’ about posting about his departure from This Morning, but felt the need to ‘clarify some things’.
He said he had ‘genuinely loved and valued’ working at ITV but had become ‘increasingly worried about how things were behind-the-scenes and how people, including myself, were being treated.’
‘I even took my concerns directly to the top of ITV: the culture at This Morning had become toxic, no longer aligned with ITV values, and I felt like because I whistle-blew I was managed out,’ he said.
‘The whole process was heart-breaking and even affected my mental health. But I’m happy to say I’ve found my feet again, know my worth and have found my tribe…
‘There are some good people in TV, but we need to be brave and stand up to those who aren’t. Even if it’s scary as hell, we have to do the right thing otherwise nothing will change.’
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A letter written by ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall to culture secretary Lucy Frazer, DCMS Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage and Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes, said an external review conducted following Dr Ranj’s complaint had found ‘no evidence of bullying or discrimination’.
Dame Carolyn later addressed claims about the culture at This Morning, which Eamonn Holmes has also hit out at, during a government committee grilling.
The TV executive was grilled by MPs about her knowledge of the relationship and also asked to address the claims of ‘toxicity’ at This Morning.
Asked about the accusations of the culture at the long-running show, she replied: ‘What I would say is that it’s not something that we take that seriously.
‘What I know is that when we talk about culture it’s incredibly important to me, personally and so it deeply disappoints me, right?
‘But we do not recognise that in This Morning and the reason for that is that we have tangible evidence to tell you that the vast majority of people at daytime and at This Morning are engaged.
‘That’s not to say we don’t take complaints about it seriously. We’ve had two complaints in five years about that issue. Both of them taken very seriously.’
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1.
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