Earlier this year producers found the perfect candidate for the next series of Channel 5’s Cast Away: national treasure outcast Phillip Schofield. There was only one problem; They couldn’t reach him. For three months, executive producer Clive Tulloh of Burning Bright Productions tried to contact the agentless Schofield, who appeared to have been cut off from the trappings of celebrity life by having an affair with a runner on This Morning a year ago. 15 when they met and 20 when they began sexual intercourse) were revealed.
When Tulloh finally received a message through Schofield’s daughter, Molly, “it took some convincing… He was not keen on the idea of being sent to an island off the coast of Madagascar to fend for himself for 10 days”. “He thought about it properly for many years.”
Producers went to court the presenter’s family home in Henley in June. Inevitably, Channel 5 editor Guy Davies would have to address this dazzling fall from grace; But they were not prescriptive about the “slope” Schofield’s story would take, explains Channel 5 editor Guy Davies. Signing a contract with him was also a gamble for them: Players Away is “a process you go through in loneliness and we don’t know what will come out at the other end,” he says. “It’s a position and a process that allows you to look inside your head a little bit, explore and challenge yourself, as well as try to survive. And I think he felt it was an interesting challenge, both physically and mentally.”
And so, after watching the previous episodes and giving it more thought, he decided, “I want to do this; I’ve turned down everything else. But what’s really appealing is that I’m on my own and I’m making movies, and I love it.”
For Schofield, this was the ultimate chance for redemption: a way to monologue – arguably – about the perceived ills that have befallen him since he was axed from This Morning last year. (Also, as I’m a Celebrity proves, exposing unpopular public figures to harsh climates does wonders for their attractiveness and bank balances – Tulloh says Schofield’s fee is “absolutely in line” with former castaways like Ruby Wax.)
The expedition began in late August, when Schofield and Tulloh embarked on a mammoth 32-hour journey (via Paris to avoid paparazzi, plus a five-hour wait at the track in Jeddah due to fog) to reach the remote enclave of east Africa. The producers stayed on a nearby island, 15 minutes away by speedboat, and sent Schofield with three cameras to wish him well.
Any doubts about the images they could receive were immediately erased. Tulloh says of Schofield’s filmmaking prowess: “He’s a TV geek; the show’s editors “can’t get over how good their footage is.” The cameraman assigned to send a drone to Schofield’s island to capture him climbing a mountain or fishing was “almost disheartened by how good Phil was at shooting.”
According to this newspaper’s review, so many tapes “made compelling television” – the only positive in a sea of reviews that called the series “a cross between self-abuse and self-promotion”, drowned out by “violence on a massive scale”. self-aggrandizing victimhood.
Besides whether he should be allowed to star in his own heroic story 15 months after his fall from grace, a big question has arisen: Was the joke of loneliness and hunger real?
But Schofield “literally” went it alone, even turning down a bag of rice from Tulloh (the producer says it would have been explained on the show if he had accepted). In fact, while we see Schofield being disappointed in the final episode when he fails to hunt, the 10 days he spent on the island triggered a serious crabbing habit. As he was leaving, he told Tulloh that he had eaten 10 crabs and that they were “pretty big,” Tulloh said. “I think you’re quite lucky not to have indigestion… if you wash up [there] “It would be even harder now because it has seriously depleted the island’s crab population.”
Although he reported no stomach upset from the crustaceans, Schofield called producers every day around 7 a.m. “He had to call every morning to do a health check because we wanted to make sure he made it through the night,” Tulloh says. During this meeting, he was also informing them about his plans for the day so that the drone could be connected.
Schofield carried a walkie-talkie with him at all times for security reasons, and only used it when he thought he had found the footprints of a large cat in the sand (he is advised to light a large fire, which would unfortunately burn down his camp). Physical danger wasn’t the only concern. According to Tulloh, “He was mentally very strong but obviously we were worried and Channel 5 were worried.” “He can call his therapist if he needs to.”
The “riskiest moment” came when Schofield decided to climb the island’s mountain on day seven. He had originally told Tulloh that he planned to do this on the second or third day, while he was still strong enough. “So I climbed, almost vertical in some places; It’s a challenge and it takes several hours,” explains Tulloh. But “he postponed and postponed. And I was just worried about him doing that… we’re all in the hands of the gods of these shows, because all it takes is one slip and then it’s dangerous.” Tulloh says doing so “was the biggest danger” after a week in which he was severely depleted of energy. “I think he ate an extra crab the night before.”
The mission was successful; Schofield was released from self-imposed captivity three days later. (The celebratory meal was a “large beer” and a modest omelette, because he feared his stomach wouldn’t be able to handle much of it, probably from being bounced between hunger and seafood dinners.)
Then came perhaps the biggest challenge for the show’s producers: delivering three episodes to the masses in a matter of weeks. “It’s so crazy, we’ve never done a show like this,” Tulloh says (normally a one-hour film takes almost two months to edit). But after a summer of the Olympics, European Games and Paralympics, where viewers “watch BBC One, ITV, Channel 4, everyone will forget about Channel 5 again”, the logic of the channel’s chief content officer, Ben Frow, has emerged. According to Tulloh, his view was: “I want something that comes out at the end of September and reminds people that Channel 5 is still there, so I definitely think it did that.
Frow adds that the channel’s programs should always be “about people who are liked or loved by the British public”. Schofield, now firmly on the second side, therefore seemed a clear fit. So did he really deserve the platform? Rather than a mea culpa, the programs are simply a series of indignant criticisms of the many people Schofield believes have wronged him. “I have no question about whether we should do it or not,” Davies says of the “controversial” events that have occupied the presenter’s mind since last year, adding that Cast Away “felt it was a good place for it.” “It’s his story.” This was definitely a conversation starter. Frankly, it made a lot of noise.”
Tulloh admits he was surprised by the strength of the public response. “I hope he has a thick skin because it’s pretty tough. So the reaction to the series wasn’t actually the reaction to it?… It was pretty brutal, how? [reviewers] He approached her. “I thought people might be a little more forgiving, but they don’t seem to be.”
They are happy with the ratings (the first episode drew 1.5 million viewers); experience confirmed to them that the format must return. “We’ll definitely look again,” says Davies, “but I wouldn’t want to say who we might have our eye on at this stage.”
Both recently contacted Schofield; Tulloh says she’s “a much stronger, happier person for doing this show… It’s helped her move on personally.” I don’t know if that’s the role of television shows. But I think it’s a great thing for Phil.”