Sara Cox Takes Over BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show
Sara Cox begins her new role as host of the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Monday, replacing Scott Mills. The 51-year-old broadcaster, who has presented Radio 2's popular teatime programme since 2019, expressed her excitement in April when the announcement was made.
“I was ecstatic, honoured and incredibly chuffed,” Cox said at the time. “It's been a dream to host the Breakfast Show since I joined Radio 2 and it feels like a bit of a full circle for me.”
Cox added: “I've had the most glorious seven years of my career on Teatime so thank you to my brilliant Teatime listeners who hopefully will join me at Breakfast for excellent music and all my usual nonsense plus some superstar guests. I honestly can't wait to wake the nation up with the biggest, most fun breakfast show ever.”
From Model to BBC Star
Cox first found fame as a model before moving into television with Channel 4's The Girlie Show. She later became a familiar face on MTV and The Big Breakfast in the late 1990s. Since then, she has become one of the BBC's best-known presenters, fronting programmes including The Great Pottery Throw Down and raising more than £11.5 million for Children in Need through her Great Northern Marathon Challenge.
Homelife in London
Away from broadcasting, Cox lives in London with her husband, advertising executive Ben Cyzer, and their family. The couple married in 2012 after meeting at Glastonbury eight years earlier and have two children together.
Speaking last year, Cox reflected on a difficult relationship she was in when she first moved to London. “I was in a very unhappy relationship when I first moved to London,” she told The Times. “I was with this person who turned out to be horrible and he stole from me. I felt emotionally stranded there. Then I binned him off and the MTV and Big Breakfast years began.”
Cox was previously married to DJ Jon Carter from 2001 to 2005, with whom she has a daughter named Lola. After finding love with Cyzer, she described herself as “very happy and smug and pleased and loved”, praising her husband as “brilliant”, “thoughtful and caring”.
Last year, she marked 20 years since they first met with a romantic trip to Italy, writing on Instagram: “20 years since we met at Glastonbury. 12 years married.”
Replacing Scott Mills
Cox was announced as the new host in April and replaces former presenter Scott Mills, who 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. Cox will take over from Gary Davies, who has been filling in as breakfast show host since Mills was taken off air.
Asked about her predecessor Mills, Cox said: “I know no more than you do about the whole thing.”
New Format and First Guest
Cox’s breakfast programme will include a new format that brings listeners’ favourite bits from her teatime show. Her first guest will be Hollywood actor Tom Hanks.
