BBC staff were told about Scott Mills’s sacking just minutes before they were forced to address the issue live on air, while other journalists audibly ‘gasped in the newsroom’, it has been revealed.
Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine said he found out about the decision after reading about it on the BBC website just 17 minutes before he began his own daytime show at midday yesterday.
The BBC’s culture and media editor Katie Razzall also admitted she has been forced to cover crises at the broadcaster ‘too many times’ when she appeared on BBC News at 10pm last night.
Just hours earlier, journalists reported hearing audible ‘gasps in the newsroom’ when staff were told Mr Mills had been axed from his £355,000-a-year role over allegations into his personal conduct.
It is understood the sudden sacking of the 53-year-old Radio 2 star relates to a ‘historic male relationship from more than ten years ago’.
Addressing the controversy live on air, Mr Vine appeared uncomfortable after the story led the 12pm news bulletin on his own show.
The veteran broadcaster admitted he had been ‘taken aback’ by the news, before awkwardly insisting he had ‘no more’ to add and swiftly moving on with the rest of his programme.
Mr Vine said: ‘Obviously, I was taken aback by that opening story to the news.
‘I had not heard anything about it until 17 minutes ago, when it was on the BBC website, and I only had the information that was given to you in the bulletin.
‘I have nothing more, that it was allegations about Scott Mills’ personal conduct, which have led to him being sacked.
‘I have no more than that. All right, on to today’s show.’
Meanwhile, Ms Razzall explained that just how damaging the Scott Mills crisis will be for the BBC is currently unknown.
She said: ‘We don’t know exactly what it involves.
‘One argument is that this is actually good for the BBC because unlike previous crises that I’ve come into this studio many times, too many times, to talk to you about, this time the BBC reaction was very quick.
‘No procrastination, no lengthy investigations.
‘But that may be because Scott Mills put his hand up to whatever was being alleged. That was not the case with some of those involved in previous scandals.’
BBC News correspondent Sima Kotecha revealed that ‘gasps filled the newsroom’ when shocked colleagues found out Mr Mills was out of his £355,000-a-year job.
She said on BBC News yesterday: ‘This is mega news. We heard gasps in the newsroom when people realised that he had been sacked.
‘We don’t know why he’s been sacked but we do know that it will surely be unwelcome news.
‘The fact that the bosses had to do this means there must be something potentially very significant here to let one of their big names go. As I said, this is a huge name in the BBC.’
It comes after Lorna Clarke, Director of Music, told BBC staff the news of Mr Mills’s ‘sudden and unexpected’ departure ‘must come as a shock’.
She reportedly told colleagues in an email: ‘I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the Breakfast show, and the BBC.
‘I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected and therefore must come as a shock.
‘Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV.
‘I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.’
Last night the Daily Mirror reported the decision to fire Mills came after a 2016 police investigation into ‘serious sexual offences’ against a teenage boy.
It claimed the DJ was questioned at the time but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. The newspaper alleged his sacking related to the same individual.
Mr Mills is the latest in a string of stars to lose their jobs at the scandal-ridden BBC. His ousting follows the exit of news anchor Huw Edwards, along with MasterChef pair Gregg Wallace and John Torode, in the past two years.
It is believed the unceremonious firing, announced with a curt public statement yesterday morning, was one of the last acts of director-general Tim Davie, who wanted to ‘clear the decks’ before leaving his post on Thursday.
Mr Davie, who himself resigned after it emerged that footage of a speech made by US President Donald Trump had been edited and spliced together in an episode of Panorama, wanted one last roll of the dice, an insider said.
But he will be leaving interim director-general Rhodri Talfan Davies, and permanent replacement Matt Brittin, with a major headache as the race is on to find a replacement for Mills or risk losing listeners.
The biggest breakfast show in the country currently brings in a weekly audience of some 6.5million, after listeners lost under Mills’s predecessor Zoe Ball returned.
Mr Mills’s team are said to be taking legal advice in the wake of his sacking.
Last night, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘In December 2016, the Met began an investigation following a referral from another police force.
‘The investigation related to allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy. These were reported to taken place between 1997 and 2000.
‘As part of these inquiries, a man who was in his 40s at the time of the interview, was questioned by police under caution in July 2018.
‘A full file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.’
A representative for Mills declined to comment when approached by the Daily Mail.
Mr Mills, who is paid between £355,000 and £359,999 a year by the BBC, took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in 2025.
He married his long-term partner Sam Vaughan at a celebrity-studded wedding in Barcelona in 2024, the year they won Celebrity Race Across The World together.
Previously, Scott had a three-year relationship with marketing manager Brad Harris, which ended in 2016.
The DJ, from Southampton, began his BBC career on Radio 1 in the late 1990s as the early breakfast host, before going on to present weekend slots and then an early evening show while providing maternity cover for Sara Cox.
When Cox did not return, the programme was renamed The Scott Mills Show.
In 2022, he joined Radio 2, replacing Steve Wright in his weekday afternoon slot.
He has presented a number of shows on the station before taking up the Breakfast Show after Ball’s departure.
He has also presented a weekend show on Radio 5 Live and appeared on series 12 of Strictly Come Dancing, where he was paired with professional dancer Joanne Clifton, becoming the fifth couple to be eliminated.
Mr Mills has also been a commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest on the BBC – raising the possibility it will be forced to find a replacement for this year’s event.
Mr Mills’s departure comes weeks before Google executive Matt Brittin is due to start as the BBC’s new director general – replacing Tim Davie.
Jo Mackie, employment law partner at national law firm Michelmores, said: ‘The BBC has not said on what grounds it has sacked Mills at this time except that it’s a ”personal conduct” issue.
‘However we can assume it must be a very significant issue for them to dismiss him immediately like this given he is one of their biggest stars.
‘The BBC has faced criticism for several years for not making immediate and robust decisions and so this could be the start of the new look of their HR and employment regime.’
The news will be a blow to Mills, who welcomed his unveiling as Zoe Ball’s replacement last year by saying he had finally ‘made it’.
He told how he had started out as a local DJ host earning just £20 a show but had enjoyed success after ‘playing the long game’.
Mills recounted his personal journey at the start of his first show, telling listeners: ‘Here we go then, Monday the 27th of January 2025 and this is The Scott Mills Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, and I can’t believe I am finally saying those words,’ the presenter began.
‘As a radio presenter and a radio fan all my life, I’m still finding it quite hard to process that this is happening, if I’m honest. If I think too much about the previous occupiers of this show it becomes mind-blowing to me for a kid who wanted to be on the radio, but wasn’t sure he had the self-confidence to be able to actually do it.’
Mills promised to make listeners smile and dance and ‘keep your spirits up on mornings when maybe you don’t feel so great’.
‘I’ve worked at the BBC for 25 years now on the radio,’ he continued. ‘A lot of you may well have grown up listening to me, I’m sure a lot of you will not have much idea about me at all.
‘Either way, if you could make me part of your morning routine, it would honestly mean so much because, believe me, I’m gonna give it absolutely everything I’ve got.’
BBC Radio has seen a wave of personnel changes and restructurings in recent years.
Liza Tarbuck became the last to go earlier this month after she announced she was quitting her popular Radio 2 Saturday evening show.
The actress had been hosting the 6-8pm slot since 2012 and amassed an army of loyal fans.
‘I think you’ve guessed, some fool left a door open & I sneaked out – a French exit!’ she wrote.
‘Together we made 2 hours of radio feel like a private member’s club, that’s the stuff of dreams, thousands of people enjoying each others company like great friends. Imagine what else we could do.
‘Thank you for letting me in, it’s been a privilege. [TARBUCK doffs a battered bowler hat & bows deeply] See you on the ice.’
Kaye Adams was axed from BBC Radio Scotland after a disciplinary probe found her culpable of inappropriate behaviour, including allegedly swearing at a colleague, throwing a pen at another and berating an intern’s professional ability.
Amol Rajan stepped down from Radio 4’s Today programme in January after deciding to pursue other opportunities, but will continue to present University Challenge and the Radical With Amol Rajan podcast.
