Sara Cox makes BBC Radio 2 debut ‘feeling clingy’ after replacing Scott Mills

Sara Cox has finally kicked off her tenure as BBC Radio 2’s Breakfast Show host, asking fans to ‘show some love’.

The 51-year-old DJ opted to begin Monday morning with Lizzo’s About Damn Time, a tongue-in-cheek nod to her takeover.

Months ago, she was named as the successor to Scott Mills, 53, who was abruptly fired from the national broadcaster in March following allegations over his ‘personal conduct’.

Gary Davies has been in the hot seat ever since, with Sara thanking the ‘legend’ who was ‘parachuted in’ after the shocking departure of Scott.

‘For the past few months, a legend has been doing breakfast, and we can’t not say thank you to him this morning,’ she said on air this morning.

‘He was parachuted in. He did a proper shift. The one, the only, you love him, Mr Gary Davies.’

Sara also played Three Lions by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and The Lightning Seeds following England’s match against Mexico at the Men’s World Cup.

The game at the Azteca Stadium was a nail-biter for England fans, with pubs open late to allow fans to watch the early morning kick off.

Also feeling a little nervous, Sara read out some of the well-wishes from listeners, encouraging fans ot keep the texts coming throughout the show.

‘It is a Monday,’ Sara said. ‘It’s my first show, and your favourite DJ, me feeling a little bit clingy, as per, and I want some love.’

Fellow DJ Zoe Ball previously revealed that Sara ‘hates’ hearing good luck messages, which she shared on the Dig It podcast with Jo Whiley.

‘I just wanted to send her all the love and wish her so much luck with that,’ the former Radio 2 Breakfast host shared.

‘She’s going to be brilliant, I keep having people running into me saying “Oh wow, we’re looking forward to Sara”. So I just want to say good luck Sara. I know she hates people saying good luck to her, but I’m saying it anyway.’

Apparently, Sara even wanted to switch off her phone to avoid the flood of messages, suggesting ‘it’s probably because it makes you nervous’.

In reply, Jo added: ‘She has wanted it for a long time, she’ll nail it.’

On air, Sara also recounted her husband, Ben Cyzer’s, attempt at watching the England match highlights without any spoilers, however, did not manage to escape fans’ enthusiasm at the result.

She said: ‘Spoiler alert, I might mention the football just for six seconds, and then come back to me, but my husband last night slept downstairs so I could get a good night’s sleep, and he was like, “I’m gonna wake up in the morning, I’m gonna watch the footy highlights, so don’t tell me who won, don’t tell me the score or anything”.

‘So he’s laying in the front room and he just wakes up, and he hears a football fan coming down the street.’

The loud fan revealed the final score – which we’ll keep quiet on for any footie lovers who missed the game – leaving her husband shouting ‘no’ at the spoiler.

Sara also played Stupid Song by Olivia Rodrigo, Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen and Finally by CeCe Peniston ahead of her first guest appearance on the show, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks.

Previously, the popular radio star hosted the station’s teatime weekday slot (4pm-7pm).

She was announced as the new host for the weekday breakfast slot (6.30am-9.30am) in April as the permanent replacement for Scott Mills.

He was sacked by the BBC shortly before it emerged that the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the 53-year-old in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a boy aged under 16 between 1997 and 2000.

Listeners can tune in to Sara Cox’s breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.