Phillip Schofield celebrates 20 iconic years presenting This Morning

This Morning has paid a special tribute to Phillip Schofield to mark his 20th anniversary on the morning show.

The 60-year-old joined the juggernaut ITV show back in 2002, where he replaced John Leslie to host alongside Fern Britton.

Since 2009, he has fronted the well-loved programme with Holly Willoughby, with the pair becoming famous for often descending into laughter and mischievous behaviour.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Morning, Holly, 41, announced it had been exactly 20 years to the day that Phil had started on the show,

‘Well, we couldn’t start today’s show without mentioning something very special,’ Holly said. ‘It really is a huge achievement. I have to say.’

Phil, as well as Holly, said they hadn’t realised his two-decade stint on the show until after it had been flagged by producers the day before.

‘It has gone like that,’ Phil replied while snapping his finger, before a short clip showed the TV personality’s career and best moments on This Morning.

After watching the montage, Phil said, shocked: ‘Oh my god. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.’

Holly said it was ‘weird’ seeing Phil as ‘the new boy’, referring to watching the presenter host with Fern.

‘It’s so weird as it feels like you’ve been here forever,’ she added.

Speaking about his first episode, Phil revealed he was ‘so nervy’, saying: ‘Fern was so lovely looking after me.’

Joking about his long-running gig on the show, Phil said: ‘I haven’t heard anything about the audition so that’s why I keep rocking up. No one’s ever told me I actually got the job.’

He continued: ‘I’ll never forget how lucky I am so thank you very much.’

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV

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