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An iconic duo on the BBC back in the 80s were presenter Phillip Schofield and his puppet friend, Gordon the Gopher. But what happened to the little creature after Phil left This Morning after his "unwise but not illegal" affair?

By that point, Phil had long left Gordon behind anyway. They first appeared together on CBBC between 1985 and 1987, presenting television shows on the interstitial programme The Broom Cupboard. Then, in 1991, the duo worked together once more as Gordon had a series named after himself which was shown on CBBC on BBC One and BBC Two, running from January 1991 to March 1991 - lasting only 13 episodes. In 2010, Gordon appeared on This Morning to celebrate Phil's 25th anniversary of first presenting CBBC. Speaking about Gordon, Phil admitted: "I miss him". The last time that they were together was in 2015, when Gordon made a brief appearance in a special that aired on CBBC called Hacker's 30th Birthday Bash. Hacker T Dog interviewed Phil and reunited the two.

Paul Smith played Gordon the Gopher on CBBC from 1986 to 1993. Speaking about how Gordon came to be, he previously explained to The Guardian: "Phillip was once sent a puppet by a viewer. Originally his arms and legs were long enough to wrap around a person, but one of our bosses didn't like that so we got them shortened - and that became Gordon.

"We thought he looked like a gopher, but we weren't really sure. He wore out pretty quickly, so we got the BBC to make more. The new ones were too bright for the camera, so I'd dull the colour and matt the fur by using him to clean the floor."

He joked: "I think Gordon is desperately jealous of Phillip's success. He really feels that he should be back up there with his own chat show. Unfortunately, Gordon got a bit too interested in the old cactus juice, which put people off working with him - you know how it is."

Phil had his own downfall in May 2023, which was triggered by the admission of an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger male staff member on This Morning.

The star, who was in his 60s at the time, admitted to a "consensual" relationship with a much younger employee while still married. He confessed to covering up the relationship to protect the colleague and his career, saying he "lied" during earlier enquiries.

Following his confession, ITV confirmed his departure from This Morning with immediate effect, and he subsequently stepped down from all hosting duties, including the British Soap Awards.