Charlie Brooker's famous Screenwipe returned to our screens last night for a special coronavirus pandemic edition.
Before taking aim at the crisis and the government’s handling of the pandemic, Brooker threw back to the moment Phillip Schofield came out as gay on ITV’s This Morning.
Schofield revealed his news in January, after being married to wife Stephanie for 27 years.
The 58-year-old had put out a statement, which was read out by co-host Holly Willoughby on the talk show.
Brooker quipped: “In a bizarre ventriloquist act Holly Willoughby temporarily identified as Phillip Schofield to announce that they were now identifying as a gay man, which is as 2020 as it gets.”
An echo was put on Holly’s voice as she read out the statement, and the camera zoomed into Schofield’s face to make it sound as though we were hearing the voice in his head.
Brooker said during the parody: “Hang on, this is weird actually, because when she speaks and it cuts to him, it feels like you’re hearing his internal monologue, especially if you put some reverb over the top.
“Anyway with that, after 58 years the beloved silver-haired This Morning wingman had come out. Just in time for the government to tell him and the rest of us to go back in.”
In early February, Schofield wrote in an Instagram post: “You never know what’s going on in someone’s seemingly perfect life, what issues they are struggling with, or the state of their wellbeing – and so you won’t know what has been consuming me for the last few years.
“With the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I am gay.”
As well as talking about the ITV moment, Brooker also took aim at the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, and at Boris Johnson’s Brexit bus.
The satirist compared the Prime Minister’s efforts to that of Colonel Tom Moore, who raised an incredible £32 million for the NHS in a sponsored walk around his garden.
