Dean McCullough and Vicky Hawkesworth to take over Radio 1 daytime slot

Dean McCullough and Vicky Hawkesworth will replace Scott Mills and Chris Stark to present a new daytime slot on BBC Radio 1.

On Friday it was announced that Mills, 48, and Stark, 35, who became popular thanks to a number of humorous segments including Innuendo Bingo, would be stepping down from presenting their Radio 1 slot in August.

Mills and Stark discovered McCullough and Hawkesworth will be taking over from them live on Radio 1 on Tuesday afternoon.

The new presenting duo phoned in to reveal the news that they would be fronting a new daytime show which will run from Monday to Thursday, 1pm to 3.30pm, from September 5.

Northern Irish DJ and presenter McCullough, who currently hosts the 10.30am to 1pm slot on Friday to Sunday, said: “I am buzzing. This is like a really weird favourite dream.

“You know, when you have those dreams and you wake up and you’re like, did that really just happen? I feel like I’m gonna wake up tomorrow in my pit in Manchester and all of this was just a dream.”

The new show will be the first weekday programme to make the move out of London and be broadcast from Salford as part of the BBC’s Across The UK plans.

Bolton-born Hawkesworth, who currently hosts regular shows on BBC Radio Manchester and GAYDIO, said: “I’m a little bit all over the place, in a good way, obviously.

“It’s just madness. It seems so, sort of, not real.

“In fact, I actually thought maybe I was making it up, maybe I’d just dreamt it, like Dean was saying.

“But I’m really excited to get going with it, it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

Mills, who has been a Radio 1 presenter for 24 years, will bid farewell to the station later this summer alongside Stark.

The BBC has announced Mills will be moving to BBC Radio 2, where he will take over the 2pm to 4pm slot which has been hosted by Steve Wright since 1999.

Stark recently announced he will be joining Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp as a presenter and creative executive producer.

He is also set to take up a new role in Global’s podcast division developing sport content for the Global Player digital radio and podcast service.

Stark also co-hosts sports show That Peter Crouch Podcast alongside the former footballer, and The Pirate Ship with celebrity chef Tom Kerridge.

Speaking about his departure on air on Monday afternoon, Mills admitted he was “a little bit in denial” that he and his co-presenter were leaving the network.

Stark added: “I feel very weird because I think when you sign up to Radio 1 you always know at some point you’re going to leave.

“I don’t want to go too deep right now because there’ll be another time for that. But I am super proud of us.”

McCullough and Hawkesworth were given their first opportunity to host on Radio 1 during the 2020 festive period as part of Radio 1’s Christmas Takeover – an initiative which provides a springboard for emerging presenters.

The BBC also announced that Katie Thistleton will host her own weekend show on the network, which will also broadcast from Salford.

Nat O’Leary will join the station to host new show Radio 1 00s on Sunday mornings.

Radio 1 will announce the new host of The Official Chart, which airs every Friday from 4pm to 5.45pm and is currently presented by Mills, in the coming weeks.