BBC Apologises For Response To Scott Mills Allegation Raised In 2025

The BBC has issued an apology for its response to an allegation raised with the broadcaster last year about former Radio 2 host Scott Mills.

On Monday morning, it was announced that Mills had been abruptly fired by the BBC due to an allegation about his personal conduct.

It later emerged that he’d previously been questioned by the police as part of an investigation into “allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy”, who was under 16 at the time.

The Mirror claimed that Mills’ firing came following a complaint made about this police investigation, though this remains unconfirmed by the BBC.

Since then, The Telegraph reported that a separate allegation about “inappropriate communications” involving Mills had been raised with the BBC by a freelance journalist last year.

According to the journalist, they questioned the BBC about whether they were “aware of or involved in any related matters” or had ever received “formal or informal complaints” about Mills “relating to safeguarding, inappropriate conduct or harassment”, but did not receive a response.

The BBC then apologised as part of a statement (as reported by The Guardian) on Tuesday, which read: “We received a press query in 2025 which included limited information. This should have been followed up and we should have asked further questions. We apologise for this and will look into why this did not happen.

“More broadly, we would always urge anyone who has concerns or information to raise it with us.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told The Mirror earlier this week: “In December 2016, the Met began an investigation following a referral from another police force.

“The investigation related to allegations of serious sexual offences against a teenage boy. These were reported to taken place between 1997 and 2000. As part of these enquiries, a man who was in his 40s at the time of the interview, was questioned by police under caution in July 2018.

“A full file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, who determined the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges. Following this advice, the investigation was closed in May 2019.”

In response to this, a BBC spokesperson told HuffPost UK they had no further comment, other than to reiterate a previous statement, which read: “While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted to work with the BBC.”

HuffPost UK also contacted Scott Mills’ team for further comment but did not receive a response.

Before his sudden firing, MIlls had worked with the BBC for almost 30 years, joining the corporation in 1998 as a presenter on Radio 1, before making the jump to Radio 5 Live and Radio 2.

Last year, he took over at the helm of Radio 2’s flagship breakfast show from outgoing host Zoe Ball.

Over the years, he has also helped present coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest and competed in the BBC reality shows Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Race Across The World, winning the latter in 2024.