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The BBC has sacked the Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills after allegations about his personal conduct.
The corporation said that “while we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted and has left the BBC”.
Mills, 53, took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in January 2025. Under his stewardship, his audience increased to 6.5 million listeners, making it the UK’s most popular breakfast show.
He had joined the station’s weekday schedule in 2022 when he replaced Steve Wright as the host of the afternoon slot, having previously worked on Radio 1 and hosted a weekend show on Radio 5 Live.
Lorna Clarke, the director of music at the BBC, said in a statement to staff: “I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the breakfast show, and the BBC.
“I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock. Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV. I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.
“Of course, it will also come as a shock to our audience and loyal breakfast show listeners too. I will update everyone with more information on plans for the show when I’m able to. While I appreciate many of you will have questions, I hope you can understand that I am not going to be saying anything.”
Mills’ place on Monday morning was taken by Gary Davies, who interviewed The Pitt star Noah Wyle. The BBC has confirmed his temporary replacements for the next week as Davies and OJ Borg, both longstanding hosts. Mills is also due to host the upcoming BBC podcast Race Across the World: The Detour and the Pop Top 10 podcast alongside Rylan for Radio 2, where they would rank music and pop culture from 29 April onwards.
The Mirror reported that Mills was taken off air on his Radio 2 show last Tuesday while the BBC assessed the information, and that sources said his contract was terminated at the weekend.
A Radio 2 source told Deadline that they had been “completely blindsided” by the news.
Mills was paid between £355,000 and £359,999 annually for his work at the BBC, according to the corporation’s 2024-25 pay report.
He first joined Radio 1 in 1998 as a presenter of the early breakfast show, on air between 4am and 7am.
He wrote in his autobiography about his Radio 1 debut that he had “no personality” and spent most of the time between songs reading out the station phone number over and over again. Even so, no one phoned in, and he said he expected to be sacked within a few months.
In July 2005 he shifted to an early evening weekday slot while covering for Sara Cox, who was on maternity leave. Cox decided not to return, so the slot became Mills’.
Mills’ sacking comes after a string of high-profile scandals involving current and former BBC stars including Gregg Wallace, Russell Brand and Huw Edwards.
He was sacked days before the director general, Tim Davie, was set to leave the BBC, potentially leaving any longer-term fallout to his replacement, Matt Brittin.
