Scott Mills ‘thrilled’ to launch his first BBC Radio 2 afternoon show

Scott Mills kicked off his first BBC Radio 2 afternoon show saying he was “thrilled” to be starting his new venture.

The 49-year-old DJ has taken over from veteran host Steve Wright, who said farewell to the programme in September after 23 years.

Mills left BBC Radio 1 in August after 24 years at the network as part of the station’s schedule shake-up.

Opening his new show, he said: “I’m so excited. This is Scott Mills and this is my brand new weekday afternoon show.”

For his first song, Mills opted for Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, and said: “I thought we’d start with one of the best pop songs of the last 15 years…

“So this is the new sound of afternoons on Radio 2. It’s me two to four.

“I know some of you are brand new to me, I know a lot of you will have heard me before on the other side and this will be your first time maybe changing the dial or clicking the Radio 2 button on BBC Sounds.

“I know many of you have been here for years, and I just feel so lucky to be here because this station is huge and it’s the soundtrack to so many of your lives and it’s not something I take lightly, so it’s not lost on me.

I’m thrilled to be here.”

Among his first songs were Taylor Swift’s new hit track Anti-Hero, LeAnn Rimes’ Can’t Fight The Moonlight and Take That’s classic Everything Changes.

A singer called Toni from Liverpool also surprised Mills at the start of the show with her remix of Backstreet Boys’ Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) with the lyrics altered to welcome him to Radio 2 including the classic chorus line changed to “Scott is back, alright”.

After playing the song, Mills praised the singer, saying: “That’s amazing, thank you so much.”

The BBC Radio schedule shake-up was announced in July and revealed that Mills would leave Radio 1 with his co-host, Chris Stark.

Mills had hosted various shows on the station since 1998, including The Official Chart Show on a Friday since 2018.

Meanwhile, Stark joined Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp earlier this month, as well as taking up a new role in Global’s podcast division, developing sport content for Global Player.

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

Ahead of his last Radio 2 afternoon slot, Wright stressed he is not retiring. He will continue to present Sunday Love Songs on the station, and his Serious Jockin’ podcast will launch on BBC Sounds on November 4.