Biography
Phillip Schofield was brought up and educated in Newquay, Cornwall, beginning his media career on Hospital Radio Plymouth at the age of just 15, making the weekly train trip to present his Sunday morning show on the station. He had been writing letters to the BBC since the age of 10 and finally in 1979 the Corporation caved in, offering him the job of Outside Broadcast bookings clerk in BBC Broadcasting House, London. (At the age of 17 he was the youngest person in the building). Two years later, and hungry to get in front of a microphone he followed his parents on an adventure to New Zealand, where he began hosting TVNZ’s weekly pop magazine show Shazam‘ And his own show on Auckland’s No1 station, Radio Hauraki. After four successful years and numerous other television and radio milestones, Phillip decided it was time to return to the UK.
In 1985 he became the BBC’s first ever network, in-vision continuity announcer for Children’s BBC. The Broom Cupboard was invented and Gordon the Gopher was created. He then moved on to Saturday mornings, presenting six years of the award winning Going Live. At the same time, Phillip also fulfilled a lifetime’s ambition to become a Radio 1 DJ, presenting two weekly shows, the Breakfast Show and 3 summers of the iconic Radio 1 Roadshow (eventually getting the jewel in the crown and hosting the show from Fistral Beach in his native Newquay, to a crowd of 25,000, another serious ambition). Whilst continuing to create and present television programmes for both the BBC and ITV and collecting a number of coveted awards, in 1993 Phillip astonished everyone by stepping into the role of Joseph at the London Palladium. After exceptional reviews and the discovery that he loved the stage, he quickly made the part his own. What should have been six weeks turned into two years at the world famous theatre and a further two years touring. This was quickly followed by another West End success and World Premiere as the Doctor in the acclaimed Doctor Dolittle. After three years ‘Talking to the Animals’ and a spell as Jack the Ripper in the stage production of The Lodger Phillip decided it was time to return his attention to television.
In recent years Phillip has hosted four series of Winning Lines live on Saturday evenings for the BBC and hosted the flagship Test the Nation for the channel. In 2006 however he signed an exclusive two-year contract with ITV. He has seen considerable and continued success with his partnership with Fern Britton on ITV1’s This Morning, winning the prestigious National Television Award and a number of other ‘public vote’ awards. Phillip played an active part in the ITV 50 celebrations, hosting two substantial network programmes. His involvement with ITV is further enhanced by the Best Ever series and an increasing amount of voice over work for major specials including Coronation Street, Emmerdale and the Muppets. In September 2005 Phillip was voted ‘All time Favourite Children’s Presenter’ by readers of the Radio Times. And in October 2006 he won the award again!
In 2006 he completed an 8 week run hosting ITV1’s Saturday night blockbuster Dancing On Ice. The show was such a success with both critics and viewers that it returned in January 2007 for a 10 week run. It regularly attracted over 12 million viewers and its audience share peaked at 54%.
Phillip was given the honour of hosting the 2007 Royal Variety Performance in front of Her Majesty, the Queen. In 2007 Phillip celebrated 25 years in network broadcasting.
2008 continued to be as busy for Phillip. Not only did he spend the first 10 weeks of the year hosting the third explosive series of Dancing on Ice, he and Fern Britton hosted Mr & Mrs (Saturday nights ITV1) all at the same time as continuing to host This Morning! The duo also hosted The British Soap Awards for the third consecutive year in May 2008 and in June, anchored ITV1’s coverage of the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Concert. In November the Prince’s Trust celebrated the 60th birthday of Prince Charles with a huge comedy showcase on ITV which Phillip hosted featuring John Cleese and Robin Williams amongst others.
2009 is set to be an even bigger year with Dancing on Ice returning for a fourth series, Mr and Mrs. back on ITV in the spring and This Morning!
Phillip is married to Stephanie; they have two daughters and live in Oxfordshire.
