Inside ITV daytime’s biggest scandals from Schofe’s sacking and Holly feud to Lorraine backlash and Loose Women row
ITV has decided to completely overhaul its daytime schedule after a host of huge scandals.
Huge changes will be made to Good Morning Britain, Lorraine This Morning and Loose Women in a huge relaunch next year.
From Phillip Schofield’s sacking and his feud with Holly Willoughby to panel rows at lunchtime, there has been plenty of shaky moments over the years.
The team at GMB will be streamlined as the programme will be produced by ITN and moved to Gray’s Inn Road.
Lorraine will be cut back to just 30 minutes of airtime and will only be broadcast for 30 weeks a year.
Cuts of episodes will also affect Loose Women which will also be shown on a seasonal basis.
This is as This Morning will now have to be a part of one streamlined and shared team of producers.
After the biggest shake-up in decades, The Sun takes a look back at some of the biggest scandals to rock ITV Daytime.
Phillip Vs Holly
Phillip Schofield joined This Morning back in 2002, before he was joined by his Dancing On Ice co-star Holly Willoughby in 2009.
The duo became the golden couple of ITV, bringing home 12 consecutive awards at the NTAs.
She was by his side as they presented the show drunk in the aftermath of ceremony and she comforted him when he came out as gay live on air in February 2020.
Away from the show, the pair would also spend time together on holidays in Portugal with their families.
However, their relationship soured after Phillip Schofield’s brother was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in April 2023.
Speculation continued to rise of a secret feud behind the scenes as they appeared to lose their chemistry on the airwaves.
Phillip eventually resigned from the show as ITV declared he would be given a new primetime show as well as continue his role on The Soap Awards.
However, Philip later admitted to having an ‘unwise but not illegal’ relationship with a younger male colleague.
He also admitted that he lied to his bosses, co-stars and even his own management about the affair as he stepped down from ITV.
An external investigation found that just one junior worker admitted to knowing about Schofield’s relationship.
Other staff slammed the probe as a ‘whitewash’ as one insider said that investigators could have found 10 people in one day who knew about the affair.
Loose Women rows
Coleen Nolan was at the centre of Loose Women’s most infamous showdown ever, when an interview with Kim Woodburn went off the rails in 2018.
The Nolans sister was forced to deny being a bully after she and her sister Linda were accused of ganging up on her former Celebrity Big Brother co-star.
The interview ended with Kim storming off the set, shouting: “I wouldn’t want to sit and talk with lying trash. She’s a horrible person. You are trash, you’re a piece of filth!”
Coleen quit Loose Women for a while due to all the backlash she received afterwards – and said she cried for 10 days straight.
While Saira Khan quit Loose Women in 2021 – but she certainly didn’t go quietly.
The former Apprentice star called the ITV daytime show “too toxic” and said she was “absolutely not” friends with all of the show’s line-up.
She told Platinum magazine: “People think you’re best friends with everybody on Loose Women.
“You’re absolutely not! You have to just tolerate [some people] because you’ve got to get the job done.”
She then unfollowed many of her co-stars including Nadia Sawalha and Kaye Adams, whom she often shared the panel with.
Lorraine backlash
In 2019, the TV presenter rejected the taxman’s claim the company she gets paid through for her work is a front.
The Scottish star signed a deal with ITV in 2012 through her firm Albatel Ltd but HM Revenue and Customs insisted she became a staffer and sent her a huge retrospective bill of £1.2million in 2016.
Lorraine had repaid £1.02million, but won a dispute over the outstanding difference – although she was later left with a hefty legal bill despite successfully defending the claim.
She told tax tribunal judge Jennifer Dean she was “baffled” by HMRC’s attitude and denied the money should have been deducted from her income.
Lorraine has been freelance since 1992 and had since also worked for the BBC, Channel 4, Scottish TV, and Sky.
Lorraine pointed out she received none of the perks available to ITV employees and gets no pension pot.
At the time, Judge Dean described her as an “honest, intelligent” super-talented freelancer.
She concluded: “The relationship between Ms Kelly and ITV was a contract for services and not that of employer and employee.”
The judge also ruled Lorraine was entitled to deduct from her tax bill fees she paid her agent.
Daybreak failure
Before Good Morning Britain, bosses at ITV commissioned a completely different breakfast show.
After GMTV came to an end after almost three decades on the air, execs wanted a completely different programme to fill the traditional breakfast slot.
Daybreak was the name given to the show that was to be launched in 2010.
The execs brought in Adrian Chiles and Christine Lampard – then Bleakley – who previously worked together on The One Show.
However, the former TV duo were used to taking to the airwaves in a primetime slot.
Viewers didn’t quite warm to them at breakfast and they suffered other problems.
The programme was broadcast from a bespoke space the very top of The London Studios.
Although bosses expected a panoramic view of the London skyline, the sun had not yet risen at the start of the show, meaning a completely black background for the first hour.
Various shuffles occured in the presenting lineup as Ranvir Singh, Kate Garraway, Matt Barbet, Aled Jones, John Stapleton and even Lorraine Kelly were brought in.
Bosses opted to axe the show for good after nearly four years to launch GMB with Strictly Come Dancing star Susanna Reid.
Good Morning Britain controversy
Piers Morgan was brought onto the breakfast show in a huge shake-up.
The former CNN star was given the main anchor slot alongside Susanna Reid for the first three days of the week.
Throughout his tenure, the ratings rose consistently and on Piers’ last day on air, the team beat their rivals on BBC Breakfast.
However, Piers was also a vocal critic of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle which drew ire from bosses.
After her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Piers took to the airwaves to give his opinion, saying on various issues that he didn’t believe the former Suits actress.
Weather presenter Alex Beresford confronted Piers live on air, which resulted in the the former Britain’s Got Talent judge storming out of the studio.
According to Piers, bosses gave him an ultimatum to apologise to Meghan Markle or to leave the show.
As such, Piers decided to depart the breakfast programme where he later launched his own show, Piers Morgan Uncensored.