Scott Mills has forged a very lucrative career by being totally inoffensive. For nearly 30 years, the DJ has risen through the ranks of the BBC by appearing affable, mild, eager to please – even to the point of blandness. He has done early mornings, late nights, holiday cover; he has always been vocally in thrall to his employer and his medium and has kept his ego in check, veering toward the earnest, light-touch, easy listening stuff rather than showing too much personality or saying anything too punchy. Grateful just to be there is the impression I always got.
His was less laddy than the other shows on Radio 1 in the Noughties and then, in his forties, he became one of its elder statesmen. After 24 years, when he moved up to Radio 2 in 2022 and joined his former colleagues Jo Whiley, Trevor Nelson and Sara Cox, it was seen as a natural graduation.
When, in 2024, he took over its Breakfast Show – the most prestigious slot on British radio – from Zoe Ball, there was a sense that while he was an unexciting choice, it was hard to argue anyone else willing to do the early mornings had earned it more. He’s done Strictly, won Celebrity Race Across the World, busted a gut in any number of mega charity challenges – he ticked every box of a BBC lifer. Mills has always been the type to toe the line and play it safe.
So his unceremonious sacking from the BBC on Monday, and Tuesday’s revelation that the dismissal concerns allegations of “serious sexual offences against an underage teenage boy” between 1997 and 2000, is more than a shock – it’s a bombshell. Mills’s “please everyone” approach may not have made him everyone’s diehard favourite and built the “insider club” fan base of, say, Ken Bruce or Liza Tarbuck, but his decades on air mean that several generations of people – many of whom no longer listen to the radio anymore but once did – feel like they know him. The serious nature of the accusations – about which very little is known, beyond that he was questioned by police in 2018 over historic allegations but there was not enough evidence to bring charges – confirms that they don’t.
This is a headache that the BBC can obviously ill afford. The director-general, Tim Davie, is days away from leaving the corporation after a tenure rocked by various catastrophes at Strictly and MasterChef, the Gaza documentary controversy, the Trump Panorama debacle, the Bob Vylan Glastonbury shitshow and most obviously the Huw Edwards affair, dramatised on Channel 5 only last week.
Mills hosting his first ‘Radio 2 Breakfast Show’ in January 2025 (Photo: BBC)The last thing the BBC (led by Rhodri Talfan Davies until Matt Brittin takes the DG post in May) needs with that rap sheet is to be accused of dithering or sitting on accusations without decisive action, which may be why this seems like such a sudden dismissal. Mills was last on air on Tuesday (he signed off “see you tomorrow”), was informed about the decision over the weekend, and his stunned colleagues were emailed on Monday by Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s director of music. “Personal conduct” was the reason cited to the public. From the very little information we have, the assumption is that this was swift – though it has been reported that the BBC may have known about the allegations almost a year ago.
But no matter how swiftly they acted, or even that Mills worked at a different station during the period in question, Radio 2 is getting heat it hardly needs. The station – the UK’s most popular, most beloved, and to many minds, most at threat – has taken a beating in the past decade. I have written many times before about its talent exodus, and how it is suffering from constraints to BBC budgets and the rise of commercial competitors and podcasts.
Its audience is deeply invested in its future and very protective, and its platform continues to be hugely culturally important. But radio is in decline because people can get their entertainment on long-form podcasts and their music on Spotify.
Compounding that trend, unfortunately, is the fact that BBC radio’s many attendant constraints make it less appealing to both broadcasting heavyweights (who can make more money and speak more freely at a commercial rival) and ascendant stars (who can leverage their personal brand, build an audience, and maintain control of their image on social media or podcasts). Its survival relies on continuing to be part of people’s routines and on communities forming around its shows and its presenters. A child sexual offence scandal for the presenter of its flagship programme – who started the gig only 14 months ago – and a fresh hole in its schedule, does not look good.
Scott Mills DJs on stage at BBC Radio 1’s Biggest Weekend 2018 (Photo: Dave J Hogan/Getty)It might, however, present an opportunity. Mills is in disgrace; Radio 2 is not. Much sooner than executives had anticipated, they have the job of replacing him. For all the reasons above, that will be a nightmare – most of the people experienced and talented enough to do the job will have no interest in a 4am wake-up call and no desire to be locked into five mornings a week and relentless scrutiny.
The instinct will probably be to play it safe – pick someone familiar, reliable and uncontroversial to fend off alarm and move away from this sorry mess as soon as possible.
But playing it safe is exactly what they did with Mills, and the result was a boring breakfast show. There is a very small pool of names in contention which includes the favourite Sara Cox, Radio 1’s Greg James, and Saturday morning’s Romesh Ranganathan. All would be great, none seems likely to take it on, but Ranganathan would send the strongest message. The real way to restore faith in Radio 2 will not be by defaulting to continuity yet again, but having the confidence to appoint someone with bite, opinions, wit and conviction to steer the ship, and trusting the audience to give them a chance.
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