Scott Mills’ co-star and so-called ‘work wife’, Tina Daheley, has become the first of his Breakfast Show colleagues to speak out following his sudden sacking
10:01, 01 Apr 2026Updated 12:30, 01 Apr 2026
Tina Daheley has opened up about her ‘difficult week'(Image: BBC)
Scott Mills’ so-called ‘work wife’ Tina Daheley has become the first of his Breakfast Show colleagues to speak out following his sacking. Host Mills presented his final show last Tuesday and has not been heard from since after he was abruptly dismissed from the BBC.
The Mirror revealed how bosses felt they had no choice with the decision, which related to a 2016 police investigation, and the-then teenage boy at the centre of it. The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation into the 53-year-old in 2016 over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a teenage boy under 16 between 1997 and 2000.
Last night, we revealed that new information was recently disclosed involving the same person, and these claims were different to the investigation into serious sexual offences from ten years ago.
Today Mills’ colleague Tina, who joined him in the studio every day to lead the morning news bulletin, returned to Instagram and reflected on what has been a ‘difficult week.’ Tina had raised eyebrows amongst listeners who had spotted she has been off at the same time as Mills.
(Image: BBC)
Posting a photo of her cup of tea in bed she penned: “Good morning! Just about recovered from this awful cold/flu I’ve had for the past week (being parent to primary school aged child is like having a subscription service to viruses!)
“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.” Alerting fans to her return, she promised: “I’ll be back on the radio Tuesday 21st April.”
Mills has been temporarily replaced in the morning Radio 2 slot by veteran broadcaster Gary Davies.
Tina shared a photo of her cup of tea and said it had been a ‘difficult week’
Tina reads the news on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show with Scott Mills, often contributing to discussions during the show(Image: Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Im)
In January 2019, Daheley moved to BBC Radio 2 as the newsreader on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show, originally with Zoe Ball and later stayed with the show with Mills took over.
As well as fronting the news bulletins, she had a close relationship with Mills and was often heard adding insight into the show’s major talking points and bantering with the host. She has also been a relief presenter on the Jeremy Vine programme.
After the Mirror broke the story on Monday, news of Mills’ sacking was shared with listeners on his former station. At the start of his show on BBC Radio 2, Jeremy Vine said he was “taken aback” by the news .He said: “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’s personal conduct, which have led to him being sacked. I have no more than that. Alright, on to today’s show.”
Speaking on his Channel 5 daytime show, Vine contined: “Weirdest thing, I had gone for a cup of coffee and I wanted to write something on my laptop, when I opened it, I saw this headline saying ‘Scott Mills sacked,’ and it was 17 mins to 12. I thought initially that must be some sort of AI page or something which was spoofing but it was the BBC website so then I was on air dealing with very little about it.”
Dermot O’Leary also said he struggled to come to term with the news as he said the Radio 2 family were ‘blindsided.’
Speaking on This Morning, Dermot – who hosts a Saturday morning show – said: “As part of the Radio 2 family – and it is a family, everyone gets together, it’s a lovely place to work, it’s very collegiate. This came as a complete shock to everybody, it came from nowhere.”
On Tuesday, Jeremy Vine hosted a phone-in with listeners about the scandal and said there was a suggestion BBC bosses had acted swiftly against Mills because they “decided to treat Scott as they wish they treated Huw Edwards, which would be a bit unfair, would it not?”
In an email sent to staff on Monday, Lorna Clarke, the BBC’s director of music, acknowledged the news was “sudden and unexpected, and therefore must come as a shock”.
The BBC said it would not comment beyond an earlier statement which said: “While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.”
The corporation has also issued an apology for not following up after a separate allegation of “inappropriate communications” by Mills was raised by a journalist last year.
The BBC said: “We received a press query in 2025 which included limited information. This should have been followed up and we should have asked further questions. We apologise for this and will look into why this did not happen. More broadly, we would always urge anyone who has concerns or information to raise it with us.”
Mills has been with the BBC since 1998, starting out on Radio 1’s early breakfast show which broadcast from 4am to 7am daily. He then moved his way up before taking over Radio 2’s breakfast show from Zoe Ball last year.
It has also been announced that children’s cancer charity Neuroblastoma UK has decided to “part ways” with Mills, who had been a patron since 2021.
A statement from the charity said: “Following his dismissal from the BBC, Neuroblastoma UK have taken the decision to part ways with Scott Mills, and he is no longer a patron of our charity. We have communicated this decision to Scott and his team, and would like to thank him for his support to date.
“We remain unwavering in our mission to fund research to find better treatments, and a cure, for neuroblastoma.”