Scott Mills was a British radio show broadcast on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022. It was hosted by Scott Mills, with contributions from Chris Stark. Other contributors have included Mark Chapman, Laura Sayers, and Beccy Huxtable, the last of whom left the show in 2013.
History Scott Mills joined Radio 1 on 12 October 1998, hosting the early breakfast show between 4–6:30am. On his fourth day on the job, he was asked to substitute for Zoe Ball on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show at the last minute, and he remained the regular cover host for many years thereafter, continuing for Sara Cox, Chris Moyles, Nick Grimshaw and Greg James.Mills, S. (2012) Love You Bye. In January 2004, he was moved from early breakfast to the 1-3pm slot at weekends. In May 2004 Mills returned to weekday-afternoon programming as a temporary replacement for Cox, who was on maternity leave. When Cox decided not to return to afternoons Mills became permanent host in the drive-time slot with Cox's former co-host, Mark "Chappers" Chapman. The show originally aired from 3–5:45pm, moving to a later 4–7pm slot in a schedule reorganisation later in 2004. Mills remained here, with producer Emlynn Dodd until March 2012.
On 25 July 2008, a special edition of the show was broadcast live from Barry Island in South Wales as part of Radio 1's summer events. The special broadcast was dedicated to a regular feature on the show (called "Barryoke"), during which listeners named Barry ring in to cover a song and change the lyrics to include their name. Barry Chuckle of the Chuckle Brothers recorded a special edition of "Barryoke" for the Barry Island show, changing the lyrics of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" from "I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one" to "I got 99 problems but a Barry ain't one".
On 28 February 2012 it was announced that Mills would be moved to the 1–4pm time slot, with Greg James replacing him in the drivetime show from 2 April.
For Christmas 2012, Mills and team set themselves a challenge to make the perfect Christmas single, one that would stand the test of time and still be good in 20 years. He enlisted the help of Frisky & Mannish, as well as Chris and Beccy, and created "Scott Mills & His Pigs in Blankets—The Perfect Christmas Single (Frankinsensational)", which is available as a free download on the Radio 1 website. It has been downloaded more than 170,000 times. There was also a BBC Radio 1's Stories documentary made about the making of the song.
Beginning January 2013, the Official Chart Update was incorporated into Mills' Wednesday show, running from 3:30 to 4 pm. This was initially cohosted with Jameela Jamil, and then Clara Amfo. Following the move of the chart to Fridays in June 2015, The Official Chart Update moved to air on Mondays at 4pm during Nick Grimshaw's drivetime show (4pm–7pm).
In May 2014, Scott decided he wanted to get involved in the 2014 FIFA World Cup by making a football song better than the official World Cup song by Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte. To do this, he enlisted the help of Australian pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer, and Scott performed a rap on the song. "Hearts Upon Our Sleeve (Feat. Scott Mills)" premiered on Monday 2 June 2014, and was available for a short time as a free download at the Radio 1 website. The song gained airplay abroad, in both Australia and the United States of America, albeit without recognition for Mills. Former co-host and sports reader Chappers returned on 30 May 2014 under the guise of "90s music expert" to judge Scott's single, and promote the 2014 FIFA World Cup coverage on the BBC.
On 14–15 March 2017, Mills and Stark took part in a 24 Hour LOLathon for Comic Relief. This 24-hour broadcast, which began on Tuesday 14 March at 4pm (after Scott's regular show aired from 1-4pm) involved Scott and Chris staying on air for 24 hours, and had to tell a specified number of jokes in each link. They were joined by the regular host of each show and a number of other guests including Russell Brand, Harry Hill and Russell Kane. In total, this raised £275,263.
Following changes to Radio 1's weekend schedule in March 2018, Maya Jama joined the team as a regular guest co-host on Fridays for a short period. From June 2018, the show only runs 4 days a week (Monday to Thursday) while Scott Mills hosts the official chart on Friday (4–7pm).
On 30 March 2020, the show (and Clara Amfo's show) was temporarily changed to 11am – 3pm for the indefinite future due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made to reduce the number of people in the Radio 1 Studios. The new show schedule included a 15-minute break at 12:45pm for Newsbeat. Chris Stark consequently co- hosted from his home. During late March to early April, Scott Mills and Chris Stark took over the Radio 1 Breakfast Show whilst regular host Greg James was on holiday (at home). For the first two weeks of July 2020, the pair also once again covered for Greg James. Scott and Chris covered Nick Grimshaw's Drivetime show whilst he was on holiday (at home) in early June.
As of September 2020, the show reverted to its normal timeslot at 1:00pm but had the final half-hour cut, meaning Grimmy's drivetime show starts at 3:30pm. This is part of Radio 1's commitment to continue supporting new music, with Annie Mac's Future Sounds moving forward to 6:00pm and Jack Saunders' new Future Artists starting at 10:00pm.
On a Friday, to make up for the lack of a show, a podcast called "The Scott Mills Daily: Gold" is released containing some classic moments from the shows history. Previous editions have been centered around "Transfer Deadline Day" which involved people breaking up with their partners before Valentines Day and "The Old Lady" in which Mills dresses up as an old lady.
From 2021 to 2022, Mills was the regular cover for Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2 and so, in these instances, presented that show from 9:30am to midday, before being heard again on the BBC an hour later, in his normal Radio 1 slot.
On 1 July 2022, it was announced that Mills and Stark would leave Radio 1, bringing an end to "Scott Mills" on the station after 24 years. It was announced that Mills would be moving to replace Steve Wright in the afternoon slot on Radio 2, although Wright continued to present for the station until his death in February 2024. Stark left the BBC completely to become part of the Capital Breakfast Show on the station, though returned to present the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in February 2025.
The final "Scott Mills" show on Radio 1 aired on 25 August 2022. The final song played on the show was "Night Changes" by One Direction.
Format The show contained a mix of music, talk and features. Scott and Chris shared stories from their lives, prompting responses from listeners on text, Twitter and on the phone, with Scott often talking to listeners with similar experiences. Often listeners themselves would share their own stories and dilemmas prompting further discussion – a large portion of the show was listener-generated. Sometimes strange experiences would lead to Scott or Chris going out to investigate, and pulling some stunt that was played out on air. They also discussed amusing or strange things they have seen, which often became a theme in future shows, "a thing". Prank phone calls were also a staple of the show, as were games with other Radio 1 presenters. As of late 2017, the last half-hour of the show from 3:30 was dedicated to new pop music and Radio 1's Greatest Hits, with minimal talking from Mills and Stark. The show in general did become noticeably more music-heavy over the years, especially from 2017 onwards.
The show regularly topped the Audience Appreciation Index, which ranks the most popular shows on Radio 1. Mills is also on the Popjustice Readers Poll as being the Best DJ on the Radio, coming fourth in 2014, first in 2013, first in 2012, first in 2011, first in 2010, and first in 2008.
Team The show largely follows a zoo format, featuring regular contributor Chris Stark. Stark was originally introduced as Scott's friend, and began to appear regularly in 2011 with features such as 24 Years at the Tap End. He became a permanent team member in April 2012.
Maya Jama was part of the team on Fridays from 23 February 2018 to 15 June 2018, leaving when the show was replaced by The Official Chart on Fridays.
The show was previously produced by Emlyn Dodd (known as "The One That Doesn't Speak" due to his non-vocal role on the show). Dodd previously worked for Top of the Pops, The Official Chart and The Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Zoe Ball and Sara Cox. It was announced in January 2013 that Dodd was to leave the show and the BBC in February 2013. His final show aired on 22 February 2013.
Previous contributors include sports reader Mark Chapman (known as "Chappers"), who had worked with previous occupant of the drivetime slot Sara Cox before joining Mills as a team member. He became famous for his Annual Wimbledon Men's Semis joke, which still happens on the day of the Men's Semis even after his departure. Chapman left the show and the station on Christmas Eve 2009 to pursue work with BBC Sport. on Friday, 30 May 2014, for a guest appearance as a "90s Music Expert" and to advertise the World Cup on the BBC.
Laura Sayers was the broadcast assistant, and then assistant producer of the show from 2004 to 2008, and was responsible for features such as "Laura's Diary" and "One Night with Laura".
Mills was also joined by assistant producer Beccy Huxtable. She became a vocal part of the team, participating in games and features such as Beccy's Classifieds and What's Beccy's Forte?. She replaced original assistant producer Laura Sayers. Beccy left the show on 18 January 2013, after being diagnosed with MS; however, she was still referenced and occasionally made on-air appearances in the months following her departure.
In February 2013, as a result of Dodd and Huxtable's departures, a change in the production team ensued. Cara O'Brien took up the post of Producer and Chris Sawyer took up the Assistant Producer role. Sawyer also read out the 'Real or No Real' facts when Chris Smith was unavailable. O'Brien and Sawyer occasionally contribute on air, but are usually just referenced by Scott and heard in the background. O'Brien left her role on the show in 2014 and was replaced by Will Foster. Foster now works on the Radio 1 Breakfast Show and Will Wilkin now produces the show.
Other former contributors include 'The Posh Radio 4 Lady' (Kathy Clugston), who reads listeners' emails in Dear Scott, and Greg James, Charlie Sloth, Alice Levine and Danny Howard who come in to play 'Real or No Real'.
Features
Recurring features on the programme included: Brother or Lover— In this notoriously difficult game, Scott and Chris get two people on and try to guess of they are siblings or "having it off." They ask questions such as "Have you ever shared a bedroom?" and "Have you ever went on holiday together?". Letchy Leila often asks a rather risqué, usually job related, question to attempt to ascertain the two peoples situation. Examples of this include "has the engineer brother or lover ever inspected your pipes?" Bamboléo Wednesday—On Wednesdays, Scott will play a section from the Gipsy Kings song Bamboléo to help listeners get over the "hump day", whilst Chris sings along out of tune. It originated from a Real or No Real fact in January 2014. The boys also play clips popular clips from the show. There is also a "gap" before the first chorus, in which show highlights and other entertaining clips are played. Bangers—Scott and Chris both choose a song to play and listeners call in and one listener chooses between the songs usually at 2:40 pm.