Zoe Ball is back on the airwaves with Greatest Hits Radio, stepping into the 1-4pm weekday slot after nearly two years away from radio. The 55-year-old left her BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in December 2024 and admits she feels nervous about the new role.
"It's nerve-wracking. It's that feeling of new jobs and new schools. There is something a little bit scary about being the new person in the room and being in a new place of work," she said ahead of her first show. "My dad always used to say to me, 'Zo, if you don't get nervous, it means you don't care any more.' And I think that's it – it's that passion, and you want it to go well."
Returning to a familiar environment
Ball has been a regular on the BBC since the 1990s, starting in kids' TV before becoming the first woman to present the Radio 1 Breakfast Show in 1997. Her father, Johnny Ball, also spent his professional years at the BBC, hosting shows like Play School and Think Of A Number in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
She said of her new team: "My team there is so much fun, and I'm surrounded by my mates with Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo being there. It's all familiar, but it's also new. It's lovely to have a new home and have something to be really excited about."
Personal challenges and family milestones
Before leaving Radio 2, Ball faced personal challenges, including the loss of her mum Julia, who died in April 2024 just 12 weeks after being diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. She said goodbye to her breakfast show around eight months later.
Reflecting on her decision to join Greatest Hits, she said: "When that call came from Greatest Hits, it was such a lovely opportunity for me. To go between two great friends of mine, Simon and Ken – it was just a no-brainer. It's a lovely slot and it's doing radio, which I love, talking to the listeners every day. And I still get to be mum if I need to be."
Ball is mother to Woody, 25, and 16-year-old Nelly, whom she shares with musician Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim. This summer, Woody has been staging events at festivals like Beat-Herder in Lancashire and Foundations Festival in Cambridgeshire, while Nelly attended Reading Festival with friends for the first time.
"I didn't really start going to festivals until my early twenties," she said, recalling her first Glastonbury Festival for The Big Breakfast. "I remember interviewing Stereo MCs and Hothouse Flowers, and Jeff Buckley played. I was like, 'This is amazing. I have found my people.' I absolutely loved it."
She added: "It's slightly different when it's your kids going. Woody was very much massively into festivals, and he was in my tummy at Glasto, and now he works at festivals pretty much every weekend through the summer. Sometimes he does three or four on the trot, going from one end of the country to the other. He's well-versed, but Nell is still 16, she's our baby. So I was just thinking, 'Oh my God, is she going to be OK?'"
Wellbeing and staying grounded
Ball has been open about her experiences with anxiety and depression linked to perimenopause and menopause. She described panic attacks so severe she was unable to breathe, accompanied by "a lot of tears and quite a low mood".
"The beginning of the perimenopause is a little bit like the rug getting pulled out from under your feet. Anxiety was definitely one of the toughest traits for me to deal with," she said. "For me, it's about finding what works. I drink less coffee, I take my supplements, I try to eat well and I train occasionally. You just find your way through it."
She credits her close circle of female friends, including Jo Whiley, her Dig It podcast co-host, for keeping her anchored. "True friends are the ones you can just pick straight back up with," she said. "You can speak every day, or once a week, or sometimes go a little while. But they are there with you through the adventures, the highs and the lows."
