When Eamonn Holmes and his estranged wife Ruth Langsford didn’t turn up at This Morning’s Christmas lunch in 2019, it sent a clear message to their colleagues about the state of their ongoing feud with ­Phillip Schofield.

As 23 of the show’s staff – including the now-disgraced star of the show Schofield – gathered in a private room at members’ club White City House to enjoy a no-expense-spared, boozy afternoon, Ruth and Eamonn were nowhere to be seen.

As the hosts of This Morning on Fridays who also covered episodes during the school holidays, their absence was keenly felt. But I am now told it was because Holmes couldn’t stand to be in the same room as Schofield.

At the time, rumours had been ­circulating around the show’s West London HQ about the animosity between the two broadcasters, who had known one another for three ­decades as their TV careers ran in tandem. While Holmes hosted GMTV, Schofield presented This Morning before Holmes joined him on the ­daytime show in 2006.

But in a bid to keep the peace on the much-loved ITV daytime programme, Holmes and Schofield had tried to keep their mutual resentment to themselves. When Schofield came out as gay live on This Morning back in February 2020, Holmes was a picture of moral support – even though sources say he was ­furious about being forced to back the man he so disliked.

Eamonn Holmes said that the production staff on This Morning ‘hated’ star presenter Phillip Schofield

Fake smiles? Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes

Nowdays, both have given up on such pretences. They openly despise one another so much that ‘they would cross the road to avoid having to even look at each other’, according to a source who knows them both.

‘It’s usually women who fall out in showbusiness but Eamonn and Phil’s is by far the bitchiest, most vicious fallout in television.

‘They hate one another. Eamonn cannot stand Phil, and while he never used to talk about it, now he just doesn’t care. He thinks Phil is a disgrace and a liar.

‘Phil keeps quiet about it all but the feeling is mutual.’

And on Tuesday morning, following Schofield’s television comeback on the new Channel 5 show Cast Away, Holmes unleashed his feelings once again.

Speaking on his GB News Breakfast show with co-host Isabel Webster, Holmes discussed the relationship Schofield had had with a much younger male colleague at This Morning, which he admitted to the Mail last year.

After Webster pointed out that Schofield ‘hadn’t done anything illegal’, Holmes fired back: ‘Why is that even relevant? He met the boy when he was 15?’

On Monday, the Northern Irish presenter insisted – live on air – that Schofield ‘is where he deserves to be. ‘I am one of the people who threw him under the bus. I am very proud to have done it. This man is addicted to fame. Absolutely addicted to fame.’

So just what was it that prompted the biggest feud in British ­showbiz?

It all began with an incident involving Holmes’s former wife Ruth Langsford. In 2019, she filed an official complaint against Schofield after she was cut off mid-sentence by the presenter as she was explaining what was coming up on her ­segment of This Morning.

This week the Northern Irish presenter insisted, live on air, that Schofield ‘is where he deserves to be’

Schofield said live on air at the time: ‘Guys, we’re going to have to jump in there and stop you I’m afraid because we’re a bit tight for time at this end. Thank you, Ruth.’ Unimpressed, Langsford responded: ‘Well, I only had about two more words to say,’ and slammed down her pen in fury. Schofield then wrote about the exchange in his 2020 autobiography Life’s What You Make It.

For months, ITV kept a lid on the row. When I attempted to write about it, the network’s press office would insist all was well.

As did Holmes and Schofield’s former talent agency, YMU. When I was told that Eamonn and Ruth were unhappy that Schofield had made the row public in his book, in October 2020 YMU boss Paul Worsley wrote to me to say: ‘You said you had heard Ruth and Eamonn were cross about the Ruth story in Phillip Schofield’s book. This is not true. Ruth was asked by Schofield and she gave her permission.

‘It is not true that Eamonn is upset or cross at this either. I have spoken to both Eamonn and Ruth directly. Ruth says that she was not upset at the story nor was she cross . . . Eamonn said that he has never expressed any opinion on it to anyone therefore any source you have cannot be credible.’

Following Schofield’s television comeback on the new Channel 5 show Cast Away, Holmes unleashed his feelings once again

Not long after Worsley’s emails to me, Holmes shipped off to rival agent Jonathan Shalit. Later that year Holmes and Langsford were axed from This Morning.

Eamonn was particularly riled since he had made the effort to appear supportive of Schofield coming out on national TV. After being told by ITV bosses about Schofield’s announcement when he and Langsford arrived at work that morning back in February 2020, he was seen embracing Schofield.

‘Eamonn felt very used by Phil for the coming out scenes,’ said one insider. ‘He and Ruth were told that they had to be there and it all looked like they were best friends. Eagle-eyed viewers at the time said that it was fake; now we know it was. Eamonn despises ­Schofield and has for a very, very long time.’

The anger only increased after Holmes departed ITV. And the moment Schofield admitted his affair with the young man, referred to as Person X by ITV chiefs, he unleashed his fury.

I’m told that Eamonn and Ruth were particularly aggrieved at how Schofield treated his young This Morning colleague, whom he had an affair with behind his own wife’s back. Langsford knew the young man particularly well as he had later moved to Loose Women (on which she was a presenter).

‘Eamonn took a dim view of it all,’ said a source close to him. ‘He knew nothing of the relationship and felt lied to, like many of ­Schofield’s other colleagues. That was it for Eamonn. He just couldn’t keep quiet about it any more.’

Speaking about the young man in an interview on GB News after Schofield’s confession, Holmes said: ‘Ruth and I particularly looked after him. He never once talked to us about any relationship, but we knew he was in a bad way fragilely. There’s an incredible duty of care that needs to go towards that young man.’

During the same chat, he let rip at Schofield, saying that he ‘created an atmosphere where people hated him . . . he didn’t look at anybody. He is a complete and utter dyed-in-the-wool narcissist.’

Friends of Schofield say that he was ‘very upset’ by the interview and said that it contributed to his already fragile state of mind in the aftermath of him quitting ITV after admitting his affair.

‘Schofield was fuming,’ said a source close to him. ‘He blamed Eamonn’s comments for his mental health problems. He said he was suicidal at that time and Eamonn piled in.

‘It was the moment that there was no way back for Schofield.’