Phillip Schofield’s rise to becoming one of the most familiar faces on British TV was not an easy journey by any means. The future ‘This Morning’ star would have to endure countless rejections during his younger years, followed by heartache from his first love and was later forced to fight for his father’s life. Even after landing his first TV job on the BBC, high-up executives tried to get him off-air, fan mail nearly destroyed his career and an off-the-cuff comment could have led him to being canned. But Phillip always persisted – determined never to let his dreams be crushed – even after one particularly savage blow before his first big break on British TV.
Since childhood, Phillip had longed to be a broadcast interviewer, nothing or no one could tell him otherwise – in spite of even his teachers who told him he would never make it.
His career was launched on the New Zealand show ‘Shazam!’ after his family made the near-12,000 mile journey south-east from Newquay.
But after Phillip’s father Brian suffered a heart attack – that would have killed him had it not been for his son – the family decided it was time to return home.
Back in the UK, the future star was hopeful he would land his first job on British TV in no time – but would have to endure a few put downs along the way.
One of them would come from Peter Hamilton, producer of the show ‘No Limits’, who would make an “unintentional” but cutting comment to Phillip.
Mr Hamilton revealed more about their encounter – over a lunch in Notting Hill Gate, in West London – in Robin McGibbon’s 1992 book ‘Phillip Schofield: The Whole Amazing Story’.
The statement came when the producer mistook the small number of viewers in New Zealand, compared to BBC’s nine million, as a sign of failure.
Mr Hamilton said: “He was proud about his work in Shazam! And told me the show had 800,000 viewers.
“I said something like, ‘Oh, hard luck – don’t worry about it.’ I had no idea 800,000 was great for New Zealand. Poor Phillip must have been deflated by my reaction, but took it well.”
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Soon after the snub, Mr Hamilton would tell Phillip that while he was impressed with the work he had done on ‘Shazam!’, he did not think he was right for the role.
He said: “We had 200 people in the studio audience, with live bands and lots of other things happening, and I needed someone with a huge amount of character – someone quite spiky.
“I told Phillip he was ‘too clean for the job’ – I actually used those words. He was disappointed but seemed to understand.”
While the future ITV host was rejected, he would get his big break a few months later on Children’s BBC (CBBC) and, thanks to an unruly puppet named Gordon, quickly became a hit.
The man who landed the job on Mr Hamilton’s show ‘No Limits’ would also become extremely popular on children’s TV – his name was Timmy Mallett.
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