Phillip Schofield admits talking saved him as he touches on Emmerdale suicide storyline

2023-03-04

Phillip Schofield has admitted that talking about his mental health saved his life as he spoke with Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt earlier this week.

The 60 year old TV host was speaking with Dominic over his current storyline on the soap, which sensitively looks at the difficulties men face with their mental health, as well as how not talking about it can have devastating consequences.

This struck a chord with the This Morning presenter, who opened up about his own mental health experiences and how talking about his issued helped him greatly.

Dominic said he spoke with families who had lost loved ones through suicide as part of his research into the storyline and his own performance.

He said: "They all say, 'We had no idea, he didn't say anything, we didn't know, he hid it so well.'

"We look at people like Robin Williams and people like that and nobody has a clue because we mask all the time.

"I'm as guilty of that. I'm shy, I don't tell people that I have a problem, how do you start that conversation?

"I would now and also being an actor now, part of the job is getting the lines and finding out what we mean but what we are saying and what we're not saying."

Interjecting, Phillip said: "It saved me. Talking. Talking out loud saved me. No question."

Dominic continued: "I don't think there is anybody in this room that hasn't gone through or experienced the black fog at some point."

Emmerdale viewers saw Paddy return to his family and friends after struggling to cope with his mental health and going missing after a turbulent couple of months for him.

Paddy's best friend, Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock), went to check on him to make sure he was okay – as well as trying to get a reason out of him as to why he was missing for so long.

But Paddy played off the incident, claiming that he was fine, before reuniting with his daughter Eve Dingle (Bella James).

The character had been surrounded by people all day sharing how pleased they were to see him home, but they were also concerned about his wellbeing.

The ITV soap will soon step up their efforts to spread awareness of men's mental health, too, with Emmerdale set to air an all-male episode where no stunts or other storylines will take place – all to mark the importance of men discussing their mental health.

Producer Laura Shaw gave further details about what to expect from the episode and the future of the storyline.

She said: "There is a whole episode where our men just talk. There are no stunts, there are no affairs.

"There are no big explosive reveals, it’s just men talking about whatever they are feeling or thinking.

"It’s as simple as that," she added. "But when you watch it, it’s probably one of the most powerful episodes we’ve ever done.

"We know accurate on-screen portrayals help people with their own experiences and help them speak out without fear of judgement.

"If we help just one person who is struggling to reach out and start talking, well, we’ve done our job."

The episode will see Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley), Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson), Bob Hope (Tony Audenshaw), Charles Anderson (Kevin Mathurin), Bear Wolf (Joshua Richards), and Jimmy King (Nick Miles) opening up to one another.

Speaking about what it felt like to portray Paddy in such a way, Dominic said: "Men suffer in secret it seems to be. I was privileged and honoured to serve that story."

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