Can Jeremy do jolly?

Jeremy Vine has been told he will take over Jimmy Young's show on Radio 2. Tim Luckhurst, who was Vine's producer in his early radio days, says there is a lighter side to the Newsnight presenter

Over the lunch with Jeremy Vine at which he agreed to leave Newsnight and replace Jimmy Young, Radio 2's controller, Jim Moir, issued one vital instruction: "Warmth, Jeremy. I want you to be warm." It is one characteristic Vine must show if he is to make a success of a surprising move. Then there is the music question. Is Vine the interrogator really made of the right stuff to become Vine the DJ?

Vine got his first big break, an invitation to join the Today programme, when the editor at the time, Phil Harding, grabbed him in a corridor at Broadcasting House. Vine was delighted, but it nearly went wrong. It was 1989, and Eastern Europe was shedding Communism. Vine, a graduate trainee not yet accustomed to the pace of network news, came into the office without the essential reporter's kit of passport, driving licence and credit card. Harding gave him a public dressing down when he realised that his new star was in no position to grab the first plane out of Heathrow.

As a fresh-faced recruit to the Today programme, Vine made several approaches to members of the in-house band which routinely entertained colleagues at parties. Jeremy, it seemed, was a drummer. He longed to prove his prowess behind a kit.

We (I was the bass player) were dismissive. Jeremy was intense, diligent and clean-living. It didn't sound plausible. Without giving him a chance, we convinced ourselves that he couldn't play. Jeremy was a devout evangelical Christian. Rumours claimed he was keeping himself pure until his wedding night. We couldn't imagine him enjoying the rehearsals which were much more fun for us than our performances were for our colleagues. We should have been less tiny minded. It would have helped me answer the conundrum now taxing the minds of Jimmy Young fans. As the website, Jimmy Young.org.uk puts it, Vine has "tremendous authority when discussing current affairs" but "seems less at ease when it comes to the DJ side of the job"

Vine is a superb reporter with a writing style matched only by his Today contemporary Alan Little. It is one of the skills which separates broadcasters nurtured in radio from their television counterparts. Radio imposes none of the pressure dictated by pictures which makes many television scripts a blend of over-simplified narrative and cartoon caption writing.

Does he have Radio 2-style hinterland, too? Many BBC staff regard Jeremy Vine as deeply serious and work-obsessed. He was an obvious star from the beginning, but his talent seemed vividly cerebral. At Today he earned a reputation for working 16-hour days, always in the corner, cutting tape or revising scripts, when others were in the pub. When he moved on to be a political correspondent, foreign correspondent and then Newsnight presenter, it felt like the natural progression.

Were we missing something, stereotyping Vine as journalist in the same way we had scorned him as a drummer? Perhaps. He did compile a charmingly funny piece about sheep-racing in Dorset. If Vine was typecast as a serious news man, it was because he was good at it, not because he could not do funny, human stories.

Vine has changed, too. The evangelism, though not the Christianity, has gone. So has the wife. The star of The Jeremy Vine Show will remarry in September, to Rachel Schofield, a reporter with You and Yours, whom he met while touring the UK for Newsnight in his dilapidated Volkswagen van. Broadcasting is legendary for vicious gossip, and BBC News about as catty as the industry gets. But, when Vine's name is mentioned, few are willing to compete for the traditional saucer of milk. One colleague says, "Jeremy is unusual for a presenter because he tells jokes at his own expense. He claims Peter Mandelson once told him he was the only person in Britain who wanted to be on television more than Mandelson did."

But a lack of enemies is an inadequate explanation for a truly extraordinary move. In the prestige stakes, taking over from Jimmy Young is huge. Jim Moir has a bust of Young on his desk. When he took over the station five years ago, finding a replacement presenter for his lunchtime show was the top item in his in-tray. Until a few weeks ago it was still pending and becoming increasingly ominous with Young's revelation that he wanted to "die at the microphone".

Vine as the answer came about through fortunate timing. Some months ago Phil Jones, editor of The Jimmy Young Show, was looking for holiday cover for Young. The bizarre saga of Nicky Campbell and his claim to have been offered the job had just ended and Jones was not keen to use Campbell. He had never been endorsed by Moir and wasn't about to be, after that interview. Jones called Vine, who had never aspired to the berth.

Vine enjoyed the work, and the production team scented possibility. At 37, Vine is in their target age group. He revealed real affection for musicians such as the Jam, Elvis Costello and the Fall. Vine knows the playlist Radio 2 hopes to introduce in the next few years if Moir's success in attracting middle-youth to the station is to continue. He rarely goes too far, although his choice of the Fall's "Leave the Capitol" on a recent show was described by one Jimmy Young staffer as "the wilder shores of where we want to be musically".

If Vine could be persuaded not to drop too many Simon and Garfunkel tracks from his playlist and to suppress his feeling that early Elvis Presley has had its day, then it all looked good. One final ingredient was required: the support of the BBC's director of radio, Jenny Abramsky.

Abramsky will not talk about the appointment. She is upset that the news was leaked before the conferral of a knighthood on Young. The official line is that Vine has not yet signed a contract to take over Young's slot. He won't until the veteran has received his honour. That changes nothing. The Newsnight man, lampooned as Paxman light by a jealous few, is Young's anointed successor. While the appointment is officially in Jim Moir's gift, Abramsky's seal of approval clinched it. Senior BBC sources say her backing was "absolutely vital, the clinching factor".

Abramsky has a record for inspired appointments. She spotted and nurtured Peter Allen and Jane Garvey on 5 Live and the Today programme's editor, Rod Liddle. One BBC editor says: "Jenny has an instinct for identifying potential in unlikely places."

Insiders say Abramsky has watched Vine ever since he joined Today. Gradually she became convinced that he had the warmth Moir demanded and a capacity for humour to match his news sense. It was not instant. Vine has stood in for Young on several occasions, and Abramsky has listened intently. But she is clearly convinced. Vine's friends say that will be even more important when he takes over from Young, a process that will start this September and culminate in the show's renaming next January. One explains: "There will be a dip in audience. There always is when something that fundamental changes. Jeremy will need top-level protection to ride out the protests and build a new audience to complement the existing one."

Abramsky will provide that. It will be a dress rehearsal for even bigger choices to come. Who will eventually replace Terry Wogan? Who will succeed John Humphrys? Vine's appointment confirms that the BBC's director of radio is adept at looking beyond the predictable places for good answers to crucial questions.