ITV’s boss Kevin Lygo has said he has handed over his own phone to investigators looking at the channel’s handling of the Phillip Schofield scandal.
The head of entertainment said the external team had looked through his emails, texts and Whatsapps.
It follows allegations of a “toxic” culture backstage on This Morning which engulfed the daytime show after Phillip admitted to an affair with a young runner.
Speaking today at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Kevin said: “When it all flared up we thought ‘are there things we don't know about?
“What's been going on? There's things we need to know.
“All these rumours and everything flying around and we thought, ‘we need to get to the truth of what's gone on.’
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“So we ordered an independent enquiry, and she has been looking at it, talking to everyone involved.
“They take your phone away, look at every text you’ve ever sent, emails, whatsapps.”
On a lighter note he joked about what his private messages may contain.
He added that he could have refused to comply on the grounds of privacy.
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He then added in a jovial tone that he did not want the report to read: “This isn’t the full report because Kevin Lygo wouldn’t give us his phone.”
Kevin went on: “So everything is available, lots of interviews, everything possible.”
Lygo said that he thought the report into the investigation would be available in September.
But he urged patience was essential.
He said: “The most important thing is to get facts and truth, not a hasty judgement.
“There is an enormous pressure these days from the press and social media saying ‘you’ve got to decide’ and ‘why didn’t you fire him?,’ and you just think ‘well hang on a minute we don’t know what the truth is yet.’.”
Lygo said the network will “act accordingly” once the investigator has revealed the outcome.
The commercial broadcaster drafted in Jane Mulcahy KC to examine the facts around Schofield’s relationship with a much younger runner in late May.
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Some have suggested a cross-broadcaster initiative to police presenter behaviour would help issues across the industry but Lygo said these initiatives “tend to get bogged down.”
He said ITV had learnt from Love Island and said: “We have guidelines for producers and it’s outlined what we expect from them in this area so trust me we take it incredibly seriously.”
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