Over 75,000 have signed the Holly and Phil petition

Over 75,000 people have now signed the petition for Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, the presenters of This Morning, to be held accountable for their ill-advised ‘work visit’ inside Westminster Hall while The Queen was laid in state.

In a recent update petition founder Laura Harrison noted:

“In most industries, one or two complaints made against staff or their employer would be enough for their managers to raise concerns and check what happened, for apologies to be made, and in some cases, grievances. In precarious gig economy roles, those one or two complaints can cost people their jobs, and if three hundred complained about one or two members of staff, I’m sure it wouldn’t go unnoticed by their managerial board. So how is it that in the entertainment industry they can avoid so many people asking for change?”

It has often been noted in television failure is rewarded, just look at many producers’ CVs to see that.

Laura adds:

“It didn’t need to get this far, and I really honestly hoped it wouldn’t. When the photograph from inside Westminster Hall started circulating social media went wild. It was horrendous. You couldn’t avoid the news about these two presenters, and I got increasingly upset – not angry, but really sad that this could happen. I found it deeply upsetting because it’s not just the Queen who has died.

“Many of us understand what grief feels like, and it was horrid to be reminded of personal grief over and over again. National mourning doesn’t help process our own losses, but to see people take to the streets was humbling. I walked past the queue several times and saw people providing support for one another. I didn’t join them, but I understood its significance to those that had. It was a mix of collective grief and of celebration coming together. Positivity emerging out of sadness.”

However, after footage and photographs emerged showing the This Morning duo in the fast-track VIP entrance, walking past the public in the regular queue, things escalated. Many believed the statement from ITV noting the pair were ‘working’ was a cover-up as no footage was recorded inside. A later ‘they went inside for those who couldn’t’ was noted as laughable.

Laura noted on the petition page:

“That’s why this petition exists. Because of the harm, the whole storm [it] has caused, and to say that if people felt that strongly about ITV and the daytime TV show providing such little entertainment value, and deliberately misleading the public, or being continuously disrespectful, then there should be a document. 70,000+ signatures later and I can’t believe it got this far.

I have expressed my reasons for being concerned and the harm that I believe these shows recurrently do. I’m so sick of ITV inquiries, and masses of Ofcom reports, but here we are with a different example. I have done everything I can to voice the concerns of those that have signed, including writing to Ofcom, and sending a letter to the Board of Directors at ITV. I have also stressed the significant psychological burden these shows place on their viewers and their presenters, and how mentally draining they’ve become.”

As well as the petition former ITV Daytime names and guests of This Morning have waded into the conversation. Eamonn Holmes declared Willoughby and Schofield ‘liars’ on his breakfast show on GB News, while Dan Wootton noted the list of names of people thrown aside by the programme for one reason or another including Fern Britton and Amanda Holden.

Laura concludes:

“This isn’t just a petition about a queue-jump. It’s about the need for change, for hope, for something else than daytime TV and questionable journalism. Daytime TV shows are designed to keep people incarcerated. But people deserve better than that. That’s why I tried. Because although ITV will largely ignore those voices, at least there is a public record. And at times of economic instability, can they really afford to lose trust?

“That’s for them to decide. All we can do is agree that this has been awful, and we all deserve better. I thank you again for your continued support and for your understanding. If nothing else, we created evidence that people are growing tired, and change is needed.”