Tina Daheley leaves Radio 2 Breakfast as Sara Cox takes over

Tina Daheley is stepping away from Radio 2 Breakfast after more than seven years, but BBC Radio 2 is keeping her in the fold as it reshapes one of its most valuable daytime slots. Her exit comes just weeks before Sara Cox takes over the breakfast programme, a handover that will test how much listener loyalty travels with the host and how much depends on the chemistry built around the chair.

Daheley said the breakfast slot had given her “one of the greatest privileges” of her life, and she framed the move as the end of an unusually long run on early radio. After 18 years and six back-to-back breakfast shows, she said she was looking forward to a lie-in. She will still be heard on BBC Radio 2 between 12pm and 2pm when Jeremy Vine is away, and she will also appear on BBC One after the summer, keeping a public-facing role across BBC output.

Her departure closes a stretch that began in 2019, when she joined the Radio 2 breakfast team for Zoe Ball’s tenure and stayed on when Scott Mills took over. That continuity made Daheley a constant presence through two different breakfast hosts, a detail that matters for a programme where familiarity can be as important as format. Before Radio 2, she built her early breakfast radio experience at BBC Radio 1Xtra and BBC Radio 1, reading the news for Trevor Nelson’s Breakfast Show before moving into a decade of broadcasting on Radio 1.

Cox will launch her new BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Monday 6 July, with the programme running from 6.30am to 9.30am. Tom Hanks will be her first guest, appearing to discuss Toy Story 5, a booking that gives the relaunch immediate star power and a clear signal that the station wants the new show to feel broad and eventful from day one.

BBC Radio 2 has described the new programme as a “fresh new format” that will keep listener interaction and celebrity guests while bringing across favourite elements from Cox’s teatime show, alongside breakfast-specific features. Cox was announced as the new breakfast host in April, after Scott Mills left the role, and her first show will arrive about four months after his departure. The station is betting that the mix of continuity and change will preserve the show’s reach while giving the morning slot a new identity.