Scott Mills to replace Steve Wright on BBC Radio 2 afternoon show in schedule shake-up

‘I’ll try not to become emotional or self-indulgent,’ veteran DJ tells listeners

‘Steve Wright in the Afternoon’ has been on BBC Radio 2 since 1999 (BBC/Supplied)

BBC Radio 2 presenter Steve Wright’s weekday afternoon show has been axed after more than 20 years.

The 67-year-old DJ will continue to present on Sunday mornings, but told listeners the station’s boss wanted to do “something different” with his mid-afternoon slot.

He will be replaced by Scott Mills, who currently hosts afternoons on Radio 1, in a shake-up of the daytime schedule.

Sara Cox’s drivetime show will be extended by an hour and will start at 4pm.

As a result of the shake-up, Mills will leave Radio 1, which has been his home since 1998, and will also no longer present his Saturday morning show on Radio 5 live.

Mills’s co-host Chris Stark will also leave Radio 1 to focus on presenting That Peter Crouch Podcast, and his podcast with chef Tom Kerridge, The Pirate Ship.

Wright announced: “I can’t hold the slot for ever, so let’s give somebody else a go.”

Scott Mills joined the BBC in 1998 and is moving from Radio 1 to Radio 2 (PA)

Towards the end of the programme, he said: “I’ll try not to become emotional or self-indulgent; this is going to be a little bit difficult.

“At the end of September, I’ll be taking a break from daytime radio. In other words, stepping down from this programme.

“At the beginning of this year, my friend and boss Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said she wanted to do something different in the afternoons.

“I’ve been doing this programme for 24 years at Radio 2, and so how can I possibly complain? The support and creative freedom I’m given is fantastic at Radio 2, and really I can’t hold the slot for ever. So let’s give somebody else a go.”

Mills has been a radio presenter since the age of 16, when he presented a show on his local Southampton radio station Power FM.