From ' A Lancashire Childhood' to BBC Radio 2 - Sara Cox to host breakfast show replacing Scott Mills
She ‘s a northern legend who enjoyed ‘A Lancashire Childhood’ and now Sara Cox will replace Scott Mills as the new host of the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, we can report.
Sara Cox will replace Scott Mills as the new host of the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, the corporation has announced. The DJ, 51, who currently hosts the teatime show on the station from 4pm to 7pm, will take over the role in the summer.
Sara said: “There are not enough adjectives to really sum up how I’m feeling about being trusted with such an iconic show but let’s start with ecstatic, honoured and incredibly chuffed.
“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. 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.
“I honestly can’t wait to wake the nation up with the biggest most fun breakfast show ever.”
Sara will take over the show after Mills was sacked by the BBC last month, shortly before it emerged the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the 53-year-old in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a teenage boy under 16 between 1997 and 2000.
Gary Davies has been filling in as breakfast show host since Mills was taken off the air.
Mills, who has been on BBC radio since 2011, has been in the teatime slot on BBC Radio 2 since 2018, after joining Radio 2 from Radio 1 in 2011.
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2 said: “I’m delighted that Sara Cox will be the new host of the prestigious Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
“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 captured the hearts of the country last November, raising a staggering £11.5 million for Children in Need on her Great Northern Marathon Challenge and thoroughly deserves this gig.
“I can’t wait to hear her first show.”
DJ and radio presenter Trevor Nelson announced the news on BBC Radio 2 and said: “We’ve just heard the news that our very own Sara Cox will be the brand new host of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show!
“You are gonna smash it girl. So well deserved. Absolutely love her on radio, and she’s gonna smash it.”
The new DJ for the teatime slot will be announced in due course.
Who is Sara Cox?
Sara Cox has been a fixture on BBC radio for more than 25 years – before landing the biggest breakfast show in the country. The Bolton-born DJ, 51, will take over the slot in the summer, following the sacking of Scott Mills.
She started her broadcasting career on TV in 1996, presenting The Girlie Show on Channel 4, and later had stints on Channel 5 entertainment show Exclusive and Channel 4’s Born Sloppy. She also worked at MTV before she joined The Big Breakfast as the “on the bed interviewer” talking to stars including Robbie Williams and Leonardo DiCaprio.
She joined the BBC in 1999, co-presenting a lunchtime Saturday show with Emma B before fronting the Radio 1 Breakfast show until 2003. Over the course of her career she presented a range of shows for the network including the weekday afternoon show, weekday mornings and weekend afternoon show.
In 2011 Cox joined Radio 2 before launching her Sounds of the 80s programme in 2013. In 2018 it was announced that Cox would succeed Simon Mayo in the teatime slot, where she promised listeners “plenty of giggles”.
The show features the popular Kids In The Car segment, where children send in messages while travelling in the car on the way home.
Over the course of her career at the BBC she has participated in a number of challenges to help raise money for charity, including taking part in a non-stop 24-hour 80s Dance Challenge in 2017 for Comic Relief where she raised £1.2 million.
In November 2025, she completed Sara’s Great Northern Marathon Challenge, walking and running 135 miles in five days from Kielder Forest in Northumberland to Pudsey in West Yorkshire and raised £11.5 million for Children in Need.
Cox is married to marketing executive Ben Cyzer, with whom she shares two children. She also has a daughter with ex-husband Jon Carter.
Her memoir of growing up in 1980s Lancashire, Till the Cows Come Home: A Lancashire Childhood, was published in 2019 and she has also written two novels – Thrown and Way Back.