Sara Cox will replace Scott Mills as host of BBC Radio 2’s flagship breakfast show, the BBC has announced.
Cox, who is originally from Bolton, currently presents the station’s teatime show, which she has fronted since 2019. In a statement, the 51-year-old said she was “ecstatic, honoured and incredibly chuffed” to be taking over the role.
“It’s been a dream to host the breakfast show since I joined Radio 2 and it feels like a bit of a full circle for me,” she added.
The BBC said it would announce who will take over the teatime slot at a later date.
Cox reflected on her time in the current role, adding: “I’ve had the most glorious seven years of my career on teatime so thank you to my brilliant teatime listeners who hopefully will join me at breakfast for excellent music and all my usual nonsense plus some superstar guests.”
She concluded: “I honestly can’t wait to wake the nation up with the biggest most fun breakfast show ever.”
Gary Davies has been hosting the breakfast show since Mills was sacked by the BBC in late March. Mills was dropped after the corporation received new information relating to a police investigation over alleged historic sexual offences.
Hosting the Radio 2 breakfast show is one of the most high-profile and prestigious roles in British radio, although it is not the station’s most listened-to programme. The mid-morning slot, currently hosted by Vernon Kay, has been the most popular radio programme in the UK since 2019, a record first achieved under his predecessor Ken Bruce.
Before taking over the teatime slot from Simon Mayo in 2019, Cox presented other shows on the station including Sounds of the 80s and the weekday late-night programme. She was also a regular stand-in on the breakfast show during Chris Evans’s tenure, and previously hosted the Radio 1 breakfast show in the early 2000s.
She has also presented several TV programmes for the BBC, including The Great Pottery Throw Down and book review series Between The Covers. Last year, she raised £11.5m for Children in Need by running the length of five marathons over five days.
Cox will become the station’s second female breakfast host, after Zoe Ball. The show’s longest-serving presenter was Terry Wogan, who hosted it for more than 28 years in total.
A former model, Cox launched her broadcasting career in the late 1990s on MTV and Channel 4 shows The Girlie Show and The Big Breakfast.
Radio 2 chief Helen Thomas said she was “delighted” by the appointment, adding that Cox “thoroughly deserves this gig”.
“Sara is adored by her millions of listeners at teatime, and having regularly deputised in the slot, I already know she’ll build a brilliant rapport with the breakfast audience and get the nation going each morning with her trademark warmth and humour,” she said.
Mills hosted the breakfast show for 14 months before he was sacked by the BBC in March. He had previously been investigated by police between 2016 and 2019 following an allegation of a historic sexual offence involving a boy under the age of 16.
The investigation did not lead to any criminal charges after the Crown Prosecution Service determined there was insufficient evidence.
The BBC said it was made aware of the investigation in 2017, but that new information had come to light in recent weeks which led to Mills’ dismissal on 27 March.
Mills said he fully co-operated with the police investigation, adding: “Since the investigation related to an allegation that dates back nearly 30 years and the police investigation was closed seven years ago, I hope that the public and the media will understand and respect my wish not to make any further public comment on this matter.”
