Scott Mills is suing the BBC after being axed from his Radio 2 show, it has been reported. The DJ and Celebrity Race Across the World star, 53, was dismissed from his breakfast slot in March in the wake of historic allegations of sexual offences on a teenager.
In 2018, Mills had been questioned over allegations pertaining to activity between 1997 and 2000, but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. It was later found that the BBC had known at the time, although the broadcaster’s current management are believed to have been unaware of the alleged victim’s age. Citing ‘new information,’ the BBC released a statement confirming that they had ‘terminated’ Mills’ contracts.
A ‘furious’ Mills is now believed to be taking legal action against the BBC for his sacking. A friend of Mills told Daily Mail: ‘Scott is devastated, but he is also furious. He has lost not just his job but also something he loved over a police investigation which was dropped many years ago. He has lawyers. They are aggressive, and they are determined to get justice for him.’
The tabloid’s source went on to say that Mills felt as though he was being used as a ‘scapegoat’ for previous BBC scandals, naming Huw Edwards and Jimmy Savile as examples. They continued: ‘Essentially, Scott wants to clear his name. He wants to come out and tell his story but he can’t do that until the legal fight comes to a close.’ Describing Scott as being ‘broken’ by his firing, they added: ‘His mental health is in a very fragile place and, to him and his legal team, it feels totally unjustified, so they are fighting the BBC. There is an obvious claim for unfair dismissal here. Decisions like this ruin lives, and this one has ruined Scott’s.’
The Mail say that his legal team – a London-based firm named Level Law – have been corresponding with the corporation for weeks.
BBC's Statement on Scott Mills
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘Scott Mills had a long career across the BBC, he was hugely popular and we know the news this week has come as a shock and surprise to many. We also recognise there’s been much speculation in the media and online since Monday. We hope people understand that there is a limit to what we can say because we have to be mindful of the rights of those involved. What we can confirm is that in recent weeks, we obtained new information relating to Scott and we spoke directly with him. As a result, the BBC acted decisively in line with our culture and values and terminated his contracts on Friday 27 March. The BBC has made a significant commitment to improve its culture, processes and standards. Last year, following an independent culture review, we set out the behavioural expectations for everyone who works with or for the BBC and we were clear action would be taken if these were not met. Separately, we can confirm the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the existence of an ongoing police investigation, which was subsequently closed in 2019 with no arrest or charge being made. We are doing more work to understand the detail of what was known by the BBC at this time.’
Career Highlights and Fallout
Mills first joined BBC Radio 1 in 1998 as the host of the early morning breakfast show between 4am and 7am. As his popularity grew, he moved to a weekend afternoon slot, before taking over from Sara Cox as maternity cover in the early evening. In 2022, he moved over to Radio 2, replacing Steve Wright in the Afternoon after the long-running DJ was replaced as part of a schedule shake-up. Mills made the move back to breakfast in January 2025, replacing Zoe Ball. He remained in this slot until his dismissal from the BBC in March 2026.
In addition to being fired from his role on Radio 2, Mills was replaced by Angela Scanlon last night as the BBC’s Eurovision correspondent. On replacing him, Angela said: ‘I think when you step into anybody’s shoes… you just want to make it your own. No matter what job I have ever done, I am never trying to replicate a dynamic. I can do what I do, and hopefully that works.’
An episode of Celebrity Bake Off was also pulled from broadcast in April which would have featured the DJ and presenter. A Channel 4 spokesperson said: ‘Having carefully considered the circumstances, we’ve taken the decision not to air the final episode of the 2026 series of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, featuring Scott Mills. Acknowledging the seriousness of the accusations that have been made against Scott we don’t believe it would be appropriate to air the episode at this time.’
That same month, it was also confirmed that Mills would no longer be hosting a planned Race Across the World podcast. Instead, DJ and former Strictly star Tyler West will step into the role, having competed on the show with fiancée Molly Rainford in 2025.
A source told The Sun that Mills was ‘devastated’ to have been replaced on Eurovision, which he hosted with friend Rylan Clark. They said: ‘The only positive though, is that he is slowly emerging into the light again – both metaphorically and literally – and is letting his old friends, like Rylan, back in.’
The Sun’s source added that Mills, who has remained out of the spotlight, along with husband Sam Vaughan, has ‘been to hell and back’ but is otherwise ‘desperate to speak out.’ They continued: ‘He knows what the truth is, and it is perhaps telling that he has not lost any friends during all of this. To be clear, Scott is desperate to speak out and has been speaking to lawyers about what he is allowed to say. There is a lot of love out there for him, and people want to know why he was fired despite cooperating with the police fully and being formally cleared by the resulting investigation.’
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Scott Mills and the BBC for comment on this story.
