Claudia Winkleman quits BBC Radio 2 as star's replacement is announced

02 December 2023 , 10:19

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Claudia Winkleman quits BBC Radio 2 as star's replacement is announced

Claudia Winkleman has quit her role on BBC Radio Two, the broadcaster has announced.

BBC's Press Office announced the news in a tweet today as they revealed who would be replacing the star. It read: "Claudia Winkleman has decided to step down from her @BBCRadio2 show and Romesh Ranganathan will launch a new Saturday show in spring 2024".

Claudia, who first joined BBC Radio 2 in 2008, also shared a statement on the career news as she said: "I absolutely love Radio 2 and it’s been a privilege to host the Saturday morning show for three years. I will miss our amazing guests, our brilliant listeners and the one and only Sally Traffic.

"The truth is my children are growing up inordinately fast so I have decided to follow them around at home before they leave for good. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who works on the show, I will continue to visit with badly made biscuits and will pester the bosses to present the odd special."

Claudia Winkleman has quit her BBC Radio 2 slot, and will be replaced with Romesh Ranganathan

The Strictly Come Dancing host will be replaced by comedian Romesh Ranganathan, who will take up the new gig in April. He said: "In my many years working as a maths teacher thinking ‘what would happen if I gave this up’, I never imagined I’d be sandwiched between Dermot O’Leary and Steve Wright on the UK’s most popular radio station every Saturday morning."

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The comedian quipped: "I’m grateful to Claud for wanting to spend more time with her kids, and enabling me to spend less time with mine, and I look forward to finding out what the nation is up to at that time, as well as speaking to some familiar faces. It’s going to be fun. Probably."

Romesh currently presents For The Love Of Hip Hop for Radio 2 and BBC Sounds each Saturday morning. Fans took to X, formerly Twitter, to express their sadness over the news. One person tweeted: "Gonna miss her on radio 2 but tbf to her she hasn’t got any more time. Bless her heart she does it all xxx love claud." Another person added: "Sad news." A third person wrote: "Gutted to see Claudia go, she’s such a one-off in the best way."

In November 2020, Winkleman took over the Saturday mid-morning slot on BBC Radio 2 from Graham Norton after the chat show star left for Virgin Radio. She has worked for the station for more than a decade, making her radio debut in 2008 as host of the comedy quiz series Hot Gossip.

After taking over from Irish comedian and presenter Graham, she shared her excitement over the news at the time and said: "I’m not often speechless but the chance to be with the wonderful Radio 2 listeners every Saturday has left me, quite frankly, gobsmacked.

"I hope my voice comes back in time for the first show as I can no longer simply rely on a fake tan and a fringe. There’s nobody I’d rather be with at the weekend, it’s a privilege and an honour." While the 51-year-old has stepped down for her Radio 2 gig, she still currently presents Strictly Come Dancing alongside Tess Daly on BBC One.

Amy Denman