BBC Radio 2 newsreader Tina Daheley has announced that she is stepping away from the Breakfast Show after more than seven years.
The journalist, 45, began reading news in the coveted slot when Zoe Ball took over from Chris Evans as host in 2019. She stayed with the show after Scott Mills – who was recently fired by the BBC over allegations about his “personal conduct” – took over last year.
Sharing the news on Instagram, Daheley said that she will no longer need the BBC Radio 2 “early alarm calls”. News of her exit comes just weeks ahead of Sara Cox’s debut as Mills’ replacement.
“It’s been one of the greatest privileges of my life to wake up with you every morning, and humbling to have been trusted to deliver the news on the biggest breakfast show in Europe,” she wrote in a post on Tuesday 16 June.
Looking back on her broadcasting career so far, she recalled how her breakfast run started on BBC Radio 1Xtra, where she read the news for Trevor Nelson’s Breakfast Show, before joining Radio 1.
“After 18 years and six back-to-back breakfast shows (probably a record in there somewhere), I’m looking forward to a lie-in,” Daheley continued.
“Wishing Sara and her team the very best of luck. I’ll be tuning in while doing the school run.”
Daheley clarified that she is not leaving BBC Radio 2 altogether, and announced that she will also appear on BBC One later this year.
“You’ll hear me between 12-2pm when Jeremy [Vine]’s away, and you’ll see me on BBC One after the summer,” she said. “Beyond that, watch this space.”
Daheley’s colleagues and celebrity fans flooded the post’s comments with well-wishes. Zoe Ball wrote: “love you Tina. Class act darling girl. I can highly recommend the later start to your day.”
Broadcaster Steffan Powell added: “Deleting those alarms will be a joy! What a shift.”
Meanwhile, Dermot O’Leary congratulated Daheley on her “great shift”, and ex-Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies commented with three heart emojis.
The end of Daheley’s stint on Radio 2 will be bittersweet, with her colleague, Scott Mills, having been publicly sacked in March.
Mills’ three-decade career at the BBC came to a sudden end over allegations about his “personal conduct”. It was later revealed that the Metropolitan Police had launched an investigation into the presenter in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a teenage boy under 16 between 1997 and 2000. The case was dropped in May 2019 due to a lack of evidence.
Daheley, who had read the news for Mills on the Breakfast Show, appeared to refer to the situation in an Instagram post back in April, shared after she had been off the radio with a cold.
“Just about recovered from this awful cold/flu I’ve had for the past week,” she wrote at the time. “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.”
Sara Cox is set to take over from Mills next month, with Toy Story 5’s Tom Hanks joining the presenter for her first show.
Teasing her debut on Vernon Kay’s show on Monday 15 June, Cox said that she’s “very, very excited” to get started.
“I’ve been quite mysterious and going, ‘it’s in the summer’ and waggling my eyebrows mysteriously,” she said.
“But I can now announce, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and everyone in between, please do join me for my very first Breakfast Show on Radio 2 on 6th of July. Three weeks today! Very, very excited. It is 6.30am.”
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