ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has addressed allegations of a "toxic" culture at 'This Morning', insisting: "We don't recognise that."
ITV bosses gave evidence to MPs following Phillip Schofield's departure from ITV following his 'unwise but not illegal' affair with a younger former colleague
Carolyn appeared at a government committee on Wednesday (14.06.23) alongside managing director Kevin Lygo and general counsel Kyla Mullins to give evidence to MPs, following Phillip Schofield's departure from ITV following his "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger former colleague.
Amid Phillip's departure, some stars have claimed there is a "toxic" culture at ITV, but Carolyn insisted there have only been two complaints of such an "issue" in five years, and both were "taken very seriously".
When asked what she makes of allegations of there being a "toxic culture at 'This Morning'", Carolyn told the government committee: "What I would say is that it’s not something that we take that seriously.
"What I know is that when we talk about culture it’s incredibly important to me, personally and so it deeply disappoints me, right?
"But we do not recognise that in 'This Morning' and the reason for that is that we have tangible evidence to tell you that the vast majority of people at daytime and at 'This Morning' are extremely engaged and very motivated.
"That’s not to say we don’t take complaints about it seriously. We’ve had two complaints in five years about that issue. Both of them taken very seriously."
Carolyn admitted she "asked for an internal investigation" after Dr Ranj Singh complained about the working culture on the show and an investigation occurred, but it "was not able to be upheld".
Dr Ranj - who worked on the show as a resident medic - previously alleged there is a "toxic culture" on ‘This Morning’ that "no longer aligned with ITV values", and he has claimed he was "managed out".
He tweeted: "I was on the show for 10 years and I genuinely loved and valued working there.
"However, over time I grew increasingly worried about things behind the scenes and how people, including myself, were being treated.
"I didn’t know the truth about what was going on with Phillip, but I do know the issues with ‘This Morning’ go far beyond him. It takes more than one person to create a culture."
An ITV spokesperson recently said the broadcaster is "fully committed to providing every opportunity for anyone who works with us to raise any concern or comments they may have".
Phillip has denied there was a "toxic" atmosphere on 'This Morning'.
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