Trending Now: Scott Mills sacking saw BBC boss send bombshell letter to staff over ‘sudden’ departure – Fans React

The broadcaster’s colleagues were notified of his ‘unexpected’ termination through a brutal message

Scott Mills’ co-workers were notified of his ‘sudden and unexpected’ termination at the BBC through a shocking email. Mills went on air for the last time on Tuesday before his contract was terminated as BBC heads probed into a claim over “personal conduct”.

Lorna Clarke, director of music, shared the news to Mills’ colleagues that he would not be coming back to the BBC. The broadcasting corporation has issued a separate statement about his departure.

Mills, 53, first joined the BBC back in 1998 after being approached by Radio 1 for the early breakfast show which he hosted daily between 4am and 7am, before working his way up to take over the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball last year.

Mills’ contract was understood to have been terminated over the weekend. Known for interviewing some of the biggest names in entertainment, the broadcaster earned between £355,000 and £359,999 annually, as stated by the pay report for 2024 to 2025.

As reported by the Mirror, the email sent to staff, sent by Clarke, read: “I wanted to personally let you know that Scott Mills has left the Breakfast show, and the BBC. I know that this news will be sudden and unexpected, and therefore must come as a shock.

“Not least as so many of us have worked with Scott over a great many years, across a broad range of our programmes on R1, 5Live, R2 and TV. I felt it was important to share this news with you at the earliest opportunity.

“Of course, it will also come as a shock to our audience and loyal breakfast show listeners too. I will update everyone with more information on plans for the show when I’m able to. While I appreciate many of you will have questions, I hope you can understand that I am not going to be saying anything further now.”

The BBC’s own statement 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.”

In an interview given last year, Scott revealed that he was almost let go when his Beeb career was still in its infancy, long before he took over for Zoe. He explained to mate Dermot O’Leary that his boozy behaviour, including an incident after the Brit Awards, nearly saw him get the boot back in 2001.

At that time, O’Leary played a clip of Mills slurring his words from 25 years ago. Reflecting on this, Mills confessed how he “got carried away”.

“That’s called how to really nearly lose your job at BBC,” he said. “I had got carried away so much at the Brit Awards, because I had never been there before, and time just fast-forwarded, and somebody went, what time are you on air?

“And I said, ‘Four?’ and they went, ‘Well, it’s two now’. Oh no! It was horrendous.”

He added that his actions were “naive and stupid” and he could understand why executives were “quite rightly” furious with him. Scott said that at the time, there was a place called “the den” at the Radio 1 studios.

“This probably wasn’t allowed, but why go home when you can have a couple [of] hours of sleep in the den? I mean, I was young, I’m in my 20s, right?” he explained.