Tina Daheley, the newsreader on BBC Radio 2's Breakfast Show, has broken her silence following the sacking of her co-host Scott Mills. In her first public comments since Mills was dismissed, she described the past week as 'incredibly difficult'.
Mills presented his final show on Tuesday 24 March, telling listeners 'See you tomorrow', but was abruptly terminated by the BBC after it received new information about historical allegations of serious sexual offences. The allegations, which reportedly occurred between 1997 and 2000, were investigated by police from 2016 but closed in 2019 due to insufficient evidence.
Daheley, 44, returned to Instagram on Wednesday, sharing a photo of her cup of tea in bed. She wrote that she had been recovering from a 'awful cold/flu' and had been off work for the past week. '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,' she said. She confirmed she will be back on air on Tuesday 21 April.
The BBC stated that it knew about the police investigation in 2017 but acted 'decisively' after receiving 'new information' in the weeks prior to Mills' sacking, which contravened the corporation's culture and values. Veteran broadcaster Gary Davies has temporarily replaced Mills in the morning slot.
Fellow presenters reacted to the news. Jeremy Vine, speaking on his Radio 2 show, said he was 'taken aback' and had only learned of the sacking 17 minutes before air. Dermot O'Leary told This Morning that the Radio 2 family were 'blindsided' by the developments.
