KATIE HIND: Dame Carolyn McCall might have thought she was settling in for a cosy chat on the This Morning sofa, but her appearance before MPs was more akin to a mauling on The Apprentice – and left the ITV chief looking wounded and vulnerable
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Watching Dame Carolyn McCall take her seat in the dour interior of Westminster’s Portcullis House, one may have been forgiven for thinking she had settled in for a cosy chat on the This Morning sofa.
Poised and professional – barely betraying the hours of intensive practice and training that must have gone on behind the scenes – she confidently laid out ITV’s safeguarding policies and processes.
These include a confidential phone line for employees to report any bad behaviour, a vast range of diverse support ‘networks’ and even her own fortnightly Vodcast where she addresses her team via videolink.
With the channel’s media and entertainment boss Kevin Lygo by her side, she reminded the panel repeatedly that she too had been a victim of Phillip Schofield’s lies, and insisted bosses could not possibly have launched a formal investigation based on mere rumours flying around the office.
On the topic of the eyebrow-raising showreel produced for Schofield’s young lover – which features an interview with the great man himself – Dame Carolyn explained that all runners in the ITV pool would have had access to the same opportunity.
Watching Dame Carolyn McCall take her seat in the dour interior of Westminster’s Portcullis House, one may have been forgiven for thinking she had settled in for a cosy chat on the This Morning sofa
As for Dame Carolyn’s own future there, she is openly saying she won’t be going anywhere
The pair even managed to wield the knife against former star Eamonn Holmes, who has made some rather public allegations that the top brass knew of the affair.
The avuncular Irishman, who left This Morning in 2021, was instead painted as a bitter ex-employee, who had never complained while he was riding high at ITV.
Had this indeed been a slot on the popular breakfast show, Dame Carolyn would have left feeling rather pleased with herself.
But inside the Grimond Room, there were no advertisement breaks or kooky segments to hide behind.
One hour and 21 minutes into the hearing, John Nicolson launched his blistering attack on the channel – and left Dame Carolyn looking like she’d wandered onto the set of the Apprentice instead.
‘What this is about is bullying and protection of staff,’ he told the room, as the ITV executive’s face set into stone.
He then asked a disconcerted Lygo just how many complaints they had received from staff about their presenters or senior management.
None, apparently.
‘That’s funny,’ replied Nicolson before presenting an email sent from Lygo’s office to a complainant.
He then produced dozens of testimonies from current and former staff members, who had responded in droves when he took to Twitter to say his DMs were open for them to share their ‘horror stories’.
On the topic of the eyebrow-raising showreel produced for Schofield’s (left) young lover – which features an interview with the great man himself – Dame Carolyn explained that all runners in the ITV pool would have had access to the same opportunity
Nicolson, a former ITV presenter himself, looked Dame McCall in the eye as he told her of how staff had been shouted at, belittled, and – when they dare complain – forced out, the ink still wet on a freshly-signed NDA.
To this, Dame Carolyn could simply mutter that it was ‘very distressing’, through increasingly clenched teeth.
She then asked for the testimonies to be handed to ITV – Nicolson refused.
And that was just the beginning of the torment, as Chair Caroline Dinenage then raised concerns over how contestants on its once-popular X Factor were treated.
Perhaps feeling like she was under the glare of Simon Cowell herself, Dame Carolyn threw production company Fremantle under the bus. Like it was neither her fault nor concern.
ITV’s 5,000-strong staff saw their boss wounded and vulnerable today – not the look she goes for at HQ, where she is keen to portray herself as a leader with broad shoulders.
But she may well have done enough to stave off further government interference for the under-fire channel.
As for Dame Carolyn’s own future there, she is openly saying she won’t be going anywhere.
But if the external inquiry doesn’t let up, she may not have any choice.
For a high-flyer like Dame Carolyn, having her future in the hands of Ms Mulcahy KC must feel most unsettling.
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