BBC stars past and present have spoken out in the wake of Scott Mills’ sacking, with a former 5Live host admitting he feels “worried” about the former Radio 2 Breakfast Show host.
The BBC announced on Monday (30 March) that 53-year-old Mills had been fired over “allegations about his personal conduct”.
It emerged the following day that he was investigated by police in 2016 after claims of “serious sexual offences” against a teenage boy between 1997 and 2000, with the Crown Prosecution Service deeming there to be insufficient evidence to bring charges.
In a statement issued on Wednesday (1 April) evening, Mills confirmed the historic police investigation, adding: "I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart all those who have reached out to me with kindness, my former colleagues, and my beloved listeners, who I greatly miss."
Mills had been at the BBC for almost 30 years, having presented a variety of shows on Radio 1 during the 1990s, noughties and 2010s, before making the switch to Radio 2 in 2022. He landed the highly-coveted breakfast show slot in January 2025.
While many of Radio 2’s biggest names have not commented on their former colleague’s exit, some familiar faces have voiced their shock as the situation has unfolded.
In a series of now-deleted X posts originally shared on Tuesday (31 March) – before Mills’ statement was released – former 5Live presenter Richard Bacon said he felt “worried” about the former breakfast show host.
“There may well be something we can’t see – so we wait,” he wrote. “But if it’s mostly what we can see. That is a giant thing to do to a human being. Whose identity and self-worth likely largely come from that job. He’ll now struggle to walk down the street.”
Nihal Arthanayake – who worked with Mills for more than a decade at Radio 1 – also sought to caution people against speculating during an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday.
“My first thoughts are obviously with the alleged victim here, without question, but also Scott Mills is a human,” he said. “He’s a person who got his dream job that has now been taken away from him, and his validation largely in life was probably defined by that job, therefore we have to be very careful.”
Sharing his experience of working with Mills, Arthanayake continued: “In all of my 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.”
Mills’ dismissal was announced at 11.30am on Monday and the story led Radio 2’s midday bulletin – after which presenter Jeremy Vine addressed the matter live on-air.
“Obviously, I was taken aback by that opening story to the news,” he told listeners. “I had not heard anything about it until 17 minutes ago, when it was on the BBC website.
“I only had the information that was given to you in the bulletin, I have nothing more, that it was allegations about Scott Mills’s personal conduct, which have led to him being sacked. I have no more than that. Alright, on to today’s show.”
On Tuesday, Vine asked his BBC Radio 2 listeners whether they thought his firing was “unfair”, saying: “Scott Mills‘ sacking has left a lot of people very confused. What do you make of it? I’d love to know?
“The whole point is there wasn’t a crime, and that’s where this gets difficult, the Met have been over it and there is no crime. The CPS looked at it. Therefore we are dealing with something you would call misbehaviour.”
Mills’ sacking has not been addressed by any of his breakfast show colleagues, though Tina Daheley appeared to allude to the situation in a post on social media.
The newsreader has also been absent from Radio 2 this week and explained in a post on Instagram that she has been suffering from an “awful cold/flu”.
Telling fans she’ll be back on air later this month, Daheley said: “Good news is I’m over the worst of it and looking forward to spending 2 weeks with my family over the Easter hols from tomorrow after what’s been an incredibly difficult past week.”
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