Scott Mills weighs in on major Radio 2 complaint -“I’m not worried in the slightest”

Scott Mills says he is “not worried” about the perception that there are fewer women on BBC Radio 2 as he takes over the breakfast show from Zoe Ball.

Zoe signed off from her last show on December 20 after presenting the programme for six years, with Scott’s first day set for Monday January 27. When asked if he was concerned by the lack of main women presenters until the afternoon on Radio 2, Scott told the Radio Times that “we have two women on my breakfast show in the morning”, naming newsreader Tina Daheley, and traffic and travel reporter Ellie Brennan.

“Also, half of the breakfast-show team – who sometimes you’ll hear on air and sometimes not – are also women,” he added. “So no, I’m not worried about that in the slightest. ”

The current Radio 2 line-up has Scott, Vernon Kay, and Jeremy Vine, and different presenters sitting in for the early-afternoon show until 4pm, when Sara Cox and later Jo Whiley take over. From next week, Trevor Nelson is picking up Scott’s previous weekday 2pm to 4pm slot.

The new schedule, announced in November, also sees Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s show on Friday nights extended to two hours, while Nelson’s former late-night Monday to Thursday slot will be filled by DJ Spoony’s The Good Groove show. Scott also says that he was “pretty much offered” the Radio 1 breakfast show after Chris Moyles left, but before Nick Grimshaw took over in 2012.

“Then they decided against it … as they do, to go in a different direction,” he added. “They would have probably put Nick Grimshaw on eventually anyway, so what would my tenure have been on the Radio 1 breakfast show? A year? Two years? ,” he continued.

He also said that he was not “finding it daunting at all” to take over one of the biggest shows on the radio. “I’m ready for the challenge,” he said. Zoe became the first woman to present the breakfast show when she took over from Chris Evans in January 2019.

She announced her decision to leave in November, saying it was time for her to “step away from the very early mornings and focus on family”. Her last breakfast show featured messages from singer Kylie Minogue, England footballer Alessia Russo and Doctor Who star David Tennant.

She was the BBC’s highest-paid on-air female presenter in 2023/24, with a salary between £950,000 and £954,999, ranking her second on the list of top-earning talent behind Gary Lineker, according to the corporation’s annual report published in July. Scott had a 2023/24 salary of £315,000 to £319,999, up from £300,000 to £304,999 during the previous period.

According to the audience research body Rajar, Zoe’s Radio 2 show had the biggest audience of listeners for any breakfast programme in the UK. An average of 6. 28 million people tuned in to her show each week between July and September last year, more than Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden’s Heart Radio show, Today on Radio 4, and Greg James on Radio 1.

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Source: Mirror