Mark Goodier has been revealed as Steve Wright’s BBC Radio 2 Pick of the Pops replacement following DJ legend’s tragic death.
The legendary radio presenter was found dead at his home on February 12 aged 69 – four years after his ex-wife passed away during Covid which had made him become ‘extremely withdrawn’.
It has now been confirmed that Mark will take over Steve’s Saturday lunchtime slot from July as the show continues.
Speaking in a press release he said: ‘It’s an honour to host the iconic Pick of the Pops, although I wish it were in happier circumstances as I was friends with Steve for almost 40 years.
‘I can’t wait to reminisce with Radio 2 listeners as we revisit two years in their lives, playing some of the best records ever made.’
Mark Goodier has been revealed as Steve Wright’s BBC Radio 2 Pick of the Pops replacement following DJ legend’s tragic death
Steve had hosted Sunday Love Songs and Pick of the Pops on the station until his death.
It had been claimed that he became extremely withdrawn and stopped going out after his ex-wife died during Covid.
Locals living near the DJ’s £2million flat, where he was found dead said he ‘completely shut down’ after the pandemic.
Neighbours told The Sun he stopped drinking in the area and believe the sudden death of his ex-wife Cyndi Robinson at the age of 65 in July 2020 had hit Wright hard.
The couple divorced ‘out of the blue’ in 1999 after 27 years of marriage in which they had two children together – Lucy and Tom.
Wright’s son, Tom, had been living in Los Angeles but revealed he returned to the UK to care for his father before his death.
One neighbour said Wright stopped going out in recent years after the country came out of the Covid pandemic.
‘He was a different person. even before his radio show ended,’ they said, ‘He was extremely withdrawn.’
The legendary radio presenter was found dead at his home on February 12 aged 69 – four years after his ex-wife passed away during Covid which made him become ‘extremely withdrawn’
It has now been confirmed that Mark will take over Steve’s Saturday lunchtime slot from July as the show continues (L-R Mark Goodier, Emma Freud, Steve Wright and Nicky Campbell pictured)
It has been claimed Wright was in talks to host his own TV show, 18-months after being replaced on the radio by Scott Mills.
His friend of 40 years, publicist Gary Farrow, said he believes Wright ‘died from a broken heart’ after he was ‘devastated’ to lose his popular Radio 2 afternoon slot in 2022.
But Tom has now spoken out about his gratitude over getting the opportunity to bond with his father in his final days.
In a touching post on social media, the grieving son said: ‘It meant the world to me that I was able to get to know my Dad in a way I never had in the months before he died.
‘I will cherish every moment we shared and every memory we made.
‘I only hope to make him proud and build on his legacy with kindness and love.’
It had been claimed that Steve became extremely withdrawn and stopped going out after his ex-wife, Cyndi Robinson, died during Covid. They are pictured on their wedding day
He added: ‘This made every struggle worthwhile to have had this time with him before we lost him.’
Just two days before his father passed away, Tom posted that he had returned to Britain to spend a week with him before he received his MBE awarded in the New Year Honours list.
He said he hopes to find comfort in recordings of his father’s radio broadcasts one day.
Tom wrote about losing both of his parents: ‘Thank the Gods I’m sober, as this would have straight up killed me even a couple years ago after losing Mum over the pandemic in the same way without getting to see him before he passed after flying back to take care of the old blighter.’
Wright was found dead at his £2million flat on Monday morning after paramedics were called to an ‘incident’, MailOnline revealed.
Emergency services rushed to the star’s home in Marylebone, central London, just after 10am on February 12, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His ‘unexpected’ death is not being treated as suspicious with a report being prepared for the coroner, police said.
The radio personality presented programmes for BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 for more than four decades.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We were called at 10.07am on Monday 12 February to reports of an incident.
‘We sent a number of resources to the scene. Very sadly, a person was pronounced dead at the scene.’
DJ Steve Wright arrives for the Sony Radio Awards 2003
