Former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield to make TV return on Cast Away

Phillip Schofield will return to television, 16 months after his departure from This Morning.

The former TV star is said to have filmed a Channel 5 special called Cast Away, which follows a “celebrity marooned on an inhabited tropical island off the coast of Madagascar for ten days”.

It comes after Schofield, 62, teased an upcoming announcement on his Instagram story, writing: “Watch this space…9am.”

He then posted a photo with the caption: “Now you know how I spent my Summer! Alone for ten days, no food, no water, no crew. My story of survival, both on a desert island and off it.”

Schofield resigned from ITV last May after he admitted to an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger male colleague.

At the time, the former TV star said he had “lost everything” after admitting to the affair, and that the fallout had had a “catastrophic effect” on his mind.

In December, an external review by Jane Mulcahy KC, instructed by ITV boss Dame Carolyn McCall, found that ITV made “considerable efforts” to find out the truth about an alleged relationship between Schofield and a runner on This Morning in 2019 but was “unable to uncover the relevant evidence” until the presenter’s own admission in late May 2023.

This Morning co-host Holly Willoughby left This Morning almost five months later, after 14 years on the sofa alongside Schofield.

Willoughby has continued to front ITV’s Dancing On Ice, with Stephen Mulhern replacing Schofield as co-host.

Over the weekend, Channel 5 posted a short clip of a mystery star, said to be Schofield, walking across a remote beach, as it teased its “brand new” desert island programme on social media.

“A celebrity marooned on an uninhabited tropical island off the coast of Madagascar for ten days is challenged with total isolation, the forces of nature, and the battle within their own mind,” the video was captioned.

Representatives for Channel 5 have been contacted for comment.