Angela Scanlon to host weekday BBC Radio 2 Drivetime

The 42-year-old will replace Sara Cox, who is now presenting the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, on the weekday programme, which runs from 4pm to 7pm.

Angela said she wanted to get to know listeners and hear about the “chaos” of their everyday lives after her permanent appointment was announced on Sara’s Breakfast Show.

She said: “I feel like I had a little summer fling, and it was all fun, but we only got to know the best of each other.

“And I want warts and all, like I want to know the listeners’ dirty little secrets, I can’t wait. We’re going steady now, or at least that’s the plan.”

Angela Scanlon (Image: PA)

Angela revealed she found out she had landed the role while buying a sling for her friend in the baby section of John Lewis.

The circumstances led some of her friends to mistakenly think she was due to appear on Sara’s show to announce a pregnancy.

Angela said: “It hasn’t fully felt real until this point, and now I guess is the time, there’s some ideas bubbling away in my head, but I just want it to be all about the listeners.

“As you say, it feels like such a beautiful time of day, like school runs and people coming home from work and cooking, and there’s a lovely intimacy to that.

“So I just want to get to know everybody, the chaos of family life, and the reality of everyday living.”

Earlier this year, Angela was also part of the BBC’s Eurovision coverage alongside Rylan Clark, hosted The Apprentice spin-off Unfinished Business on BBC Two and presented ITV’s This Morning.

Following the announcement, Angela said taking over the Drivetime programme was “properly exciting”.

She said: “Millions of people, all having completely different days, piling into the same conversation for a few hours – what a strange and lovely thing!

“Every weekday, I’ll be in your ears, your cars and your kitchens – on the school run, on the way home, or standing at the hob wondering what on earth to feed a small but hungry mob.

“I want all of it, the stories, the opinions, the chaos, the tiny triumphs and the things you probably shouldn’t admit on national radio.”

Angela added that being placed in the schedule between Trevor Nelson and Jo Whiley, who she described as “two absolute radio legends”, was “quite the sandwich”.

She added: “I cannot wait to get stuck in. We’re going to have a lot of fun.”

Angela made her Radio 2 debut on the Sunday early breakfast show, which she presented from 2018 to 2021, and has also provided cover for other programmes.

(Image: PA Media/BBC Children in Need)

Further changes at Radio 2 will see Ben Earle take over from Bob Harris as presenter of The Radio 2 Country Show, which airs from 9pm to 10pm on Thursdays.

Bob, who had presented the programme since 1999, stepped down last year due to health issues.

The station’s presenter shake-up has also seen Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two presenter Ellie Taylor replace Strictly Come Dancing main show host Emma Willis on the Saturday lunchtime programme from 1pm to 3pm until Strictly ends.