Scott Mills sacked latest: BBC apologises for failing to investigate claims against Radio 2 DJ last year

There’s a big vacancy going at Radio 2 after the BBC abruptly sacked Scott Mills as host of the weekday breakfast show.

There’s now a big question mark surrounding who will be recruited as Mills’ full-time replacement. Since the 53-year-old DJ was taken off the air last week, resident Radio 2 stand-in Gary Davies has been hosting the show – but it’s a sure bet the BBC are lining up a household name to take on the role.

Our team take a look at the top contenders:

In an email sent to staff on Monday, Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s director of music, wrote: “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 further now.”

I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock,” Lorna Clark, the director of music at the BBC, wrote in an email to staff on Monday morning.

She was announcing the sacking of Scott Mills, a long-term BBC DJ who, in January last year, was given the Radio 2 breakfast slot, often seen as the crown jewel of British radio broadcasting.

Today, it has emerged that Mills was investigated by the police in 2016 after allegations of “serious sexual offences” against a teenage boy, dating back to the late Nineties.

The news has blindsided Mills’ colleagues, the rest of the UK’s media and his fans, as for years Mills has been seen as a steady voice through a tumultuous period for BBC radio.

Read the full analysis from Nick Hilton here:

The BBC has apologised for not investigating last year when a journalist told bosses she had information about alleged “inappropriate communications” involving DJ Scott Mills.

She had also asked whether the BBC had ever received any complaints about Mills “relating to safeguarding, inappropriate conduct or harassment”.

She did not receive a response.

The BBC said: “We received a press query in 2025 which included limited information. This should have been followed up and we should have asked further questions.

“We apologise for this and will look into why this did not happen.

“More broadly, we would always urge anyone who has concerns or information to raise it with us.”

The Independent understands last year’s allegations are separate from those for which Mills was sacked.

Outgoing director-general Tim Davie will leave the BBC this week, after stepping down due to criticism of a Panorama documentary that appeared to show Donald Trump directly calling for the January 6 United States Capitol attack.

He will be replaced by interim director-general, Rhodri Talfan Davies, on April 2, before former Google boss Matt Brittin becomes permanent director-general on May 18.

It is understood that former director-general Tony Hall was unaware of the allegations against Mills.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that the teenage boy was under 16.

A spokesperson said: “In December 2016, the Met began an investigation following a referral from another police force.

“The investigation related to allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy. These were reported to have taken place between 1997 and 2000.

“As part of these inquiries, a man who was in his 40s at the time of the interview was questioned by police under caution in July 2018.

“A full file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.”

Scott Mills’s former Radio 1 colleague Nihal Arthanayake has said that he never heard a “bad word” against him during their time working together.

Asked if there had been rumours about Mills, Arthanayake said: “This industry that we’ve all worked in for a number of years is actually quite small, and if you are ‘a bit of a wrong ‘un’ eventually people just say, in corridors, ‘Oh, he or she’s a bit of a wrong ‘un’.

“In all of my years, 12 years at Radio 1, I didn’t ever hear a bad word said about Scott Mills, I have to just say that. That was the reality, that was my experience and others’ experience, and he worked with a number of production teams across Radio 1.

“And then, of course, interestingly as well, if he had been a complete wrong ‘un, eventually those career opportunities tend to taper off, because people go to different places, and they become higher up the food chain, and people say, ‘We’d rather not work with him’.

“But it was quite the opposite to Scott Mills, his career was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, whether it be Eurovision or Race Across The World.”

Scott Mills began his BBC career on Radio 1 in the late 1990s as the early breakfast host, before going on to present weekend slots and then an early evening show while providing maternity cover for Sara Cox. When Cox did not return, the programme was renamed The Scott Mills Show.

In 2022, he joined Radio 2, replacing Steve Wright in his weekday afternoon slot.

He has presented a number of shows on the station before taking up the Breakfast Show after Ball’s departure.

Mills has also presented a weekend show on Radio 5 Live and appeared on series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing, where he was paired with professional dancer Joanne Clifton, becoming the fifth couple to be eliminated.

He also won Celebrity Race Across The World with his husband in 2024.

Earlier this month, Mills appeared in a Traitors-themed sketch on Comic Relief, and he has also been a commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest on the BBC.

Mills is due to support Boyzone on their Two For The Road gigs in June.