Sara Cox Takes Over Scott Mills: Inside Scoop

When Sara Cox completed her heroic 135-mile marathon challenge for , it was her Radio 2 colleague Scott Mills who embraced her at the finishing line.

Jubilant but very exhausted, former ladette Sara appeared delighted to see her friend. The only others to greet her were members of her own family.

Indeed, Mills, her long-standing friend and colleague was even given the honour of announcing on air the staggering final total that had been raised – more than £10million – on his Radio 2 breakfast show in November last year.

Now, just five months on, the has revealed that former Girlie Show presenter turned BBC Radio stalwart Sara will replace him on that very slot after he was sacked last month over allegations of historic sex offences.

One Radio 2 insider told the Daily Mail: ‘Sara and Scott have known one another for years, they have been so close for many, many years.

‘It was a huge honour for him to meet her at the end of her epic challenge, now she’s taken his job.

‘Scott has been devastated over being axed, it has broken him, now his friend is stepping into his shoes to host the show. You can only assume that he has given her his blessing to do so.’

Yesterday afternoon, almost exactly a month after Mills got his marching orders, the Corporation put out a press release which revealed Sara was switching to the station’s prestigious breakfast slot after seven years on the weekday teatime show.

For Bolton-born Sara, 51, it is a dream come true – and she made no secret of that when she spoke at length about her new role when she went on air 90 minutes after the news was revealed.

She said she was ‘absolutely buzzing’ to have been asked to host the show, which was previously presented by her friend and fellow former ‘ladette’ Zoe Ball, who stood down two years ago.

‘Takes quite a lot to make me speechless,’ said Sara. ‘But when I got asked to host the Radio 2 breakfast show, I was momentarily lost for words. Maybe that’s why they asked me, was it just to shut me up. But I mean, it’s always been my dream to do breakfast, my energy has very much been waiting in the wings. “Hi, I am waiting in the wings gal! Can I have breakfast please?!”’

And giving a hint of what her new show would look like, Sara told the listeners: ‘I will say that on breakfast it will be the usual mucking around, excellent music, and hopefully you lot as well, just at the other end of your day.’

It’s fair to say that Sara had plenty to say about her new job but there was no mention of Mills. Sources inside the BBC say that he is ‘not to be mentioned’ and that Sara ‘would have most definitely been told not to name check him’.

As his successor was being announced, Mills, 53, was seen shielding his face behind dark sunglasses close to his home in Chorleywood, Buckinghamshire.

At his side was his loyal husband of two years, Sam Vaughan, who friends say has been his ‘rock’ as he struggles to accept that his career at the BBC is over.

One friend said: ‘We are all really concerned about Scott and his mental health. It’s a real worry.’

Sara’s appointment follows the departure of Mills, who was dropped by the BBC after three decades when new information emerged relating to a police investigation over alleged historic sexual offences.

The offences were alleged to have taken place between 1997 and 2000, when Mills would have been in his mid-20s. The complainant was under 16 at the time.

The probe did not lead to any criminal charges after the Crown Prosecution Service determined there was insufficient evidence.

Mills released a statement acknowledging his dismissal and said he had fully cooperated with the police investigation.