Indulging Schofield as he turns serious safeguarding issue into a gameshow sends wrong message

IN the real world, ordinary people have just one word to describe the message sent out by TV’s attempt to ­rehabilitate Phillip Schofield: Horrific.

We’ll shortly get to the brass neck of the ex-This Morning presenter blaming everyone but himself for his relations with a producer, who was just 15 when they first met.

But the most damaging message sent out by Schofield’s strategic confessional is that the big names are too powerful to keep down.

Campaigners had barely finished explaining last week why some on the wrong end of, for example, the Mohamed Al Fayed power imbalance, stayed quiet when news of Schofield’s comeback broke.

It has taken, remember, just 16 months for the 62-year-old’s return after what would be seen in most workplaces as a serious HR violation and an abuse of power.

He conceded, after parting company with ITV last year, that there was “no question I did a bad thing”.

He also apologised to the unnamed individual for bringing “the greatest misery into his totally innocent life”. Also to his former colleagues for repeatedly lying to them.

Some of the stars who couldn’t get far enough away from Schofield at the time have suddenly decided the coast is clear to start “liking” his content again on social media.

Now we have his Channel 5 reality TV show Cast Away – a carefully executed strategy to woo back his former fans.

No interviewer to ask him any tricky questions.

READ MORE: Expose the Enablers – the shadowy lackeys who help powerful abusers like Al Fayed wreck lives

The benefit of a congested news cycle to inflict a ­collective short-term memory loss on the British public.

And a rubbernecking, jungle-type format, just like the one he and his people will know the viewers love.

It is a confessional that has turned a serious issue into a game show. And it stinks.

Don’t claim to be serious about ­safeguarding if you’re now going to ask whether what Schofield did was really that bad.

TV execs can see a disgraced star as an opportunity for ­entertainment, and give them a platform, whereas most people would be given a punishment. That’s how the whole thing could happen in the first place. Nigel Farage was knee-deep in ­divisive, right-wing politics when he was asked on to I’m A Celebrity, Matt Hancock played his part in the Covid debacle that destroyed lives and was also invited.

Huw Edwards is probably the show’s next target.

And there’s the point. The TV bubble is one of the most significant enablers with well-documented cases of slow reactions to allegations of inappropriate behaviour – or none at all.

Remember that, the next time someone clutches their pearls demanding to know how a big name could cross lines in plain sight.

Schofield’s lack of self-awareness has already seen him lash out at his former TV pals, bosses and production staff when he should be continuing to look at himself.

He has also suggested his sexuality played a big part when he’d have been in the wrong regardless of gender.

The people around him hurt by the scandal, including his family, are the ones you should have sympathy for.

They matter. Of course they do. Nobody wants to see anybody on the edge.

And what about the young people and their families on the other side of the power imbalance?

What will they be thinking, watching Schofield back on TV, feeding his ego?

We need to make our minds up. Either we want to smash the cult of celebrity that has, in part, given rise to the likes of Huw Edwards, Stuart Hall, Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris and so many others. Or we don’t.

Because NSPCC research suggests it is rare for a child to ­understand how common grooming is – and the litany of cases involving young people has led to a lack of faith in the system.

Schofield’s return to TV does not help.