Yesterday’s news that Scott Mills had been dismissed as the host of BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show – with immediate effect, his contract terminated – was a shock. The BBC never moves that fast; we are used to suspensions, investigations and deliberations before anything is actually done.
The BBC issued a terse announcement from its cold high peak overlooking the universe, which loftily stated, ‘While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals, we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted and has left the BBC’. It is striking that this dry and patrician tone, once the ‘voice’ of the Corporation, is heard nowadays only when it is in trouble. A bit of that Olympian disinterest and studied neutrality might be nice on other occasions, instead of the breathless and excitable drooling over drag acts and Glasto.
The hours following this address were inevitably filled with speculation. What exactly had Mills done to spark this unaccustomed alacrity in our beloved national broadcaster? Misgendered somebody? Liked one of J.K. Rowling’s tweets? Laughed at an old Bob Monkhouse joke?
A few more scant details emerged over the next few hours. Mill’s dismissal was something to do, said the Mirror, with a ‘historic male relationship’. What a powerfully odd phrase. A ‘historic’ relationship? What, with Napoleon? Wat Tyler? Or maybe the inventor of the steam-powered loom?
The BBC’s speed had the sniff of a spooked organisation moving strategically to get in ahead of the tabloids before another bombshell could be dropped. The immediate context was the transmission of the Channel 5 drama about Huw Edwards last week, which – entirely fairly and truthfully – portrayed the BBC’s reaction to those accusations as nonchalant, complacent and slothful, at best.
Some wondered – was this swift action the new broom of incoming director-general Matt Brittin? But Brittin doesn’t take up the job for another month and a half. The Mills boot must have been the decision – or at least received the approval of – the outgoing DG Tim Davie.
As expected, we didn’t have long to wait for more details. Late last night the Mirror revealed that Mills was fired because of a 2016-17 police investigation into ‘serious sexual offences’ against a teenage boy in the late 90s. The case was dropped because of a lack of evidence.
Will we miss Scott Mills? I would suggest that we certainly won’t miss paying him his eye-watering salary of about £360,000 per annum. The thinking goes, we are told repeatedly, that the Beeb has to shell out these mega rates (out of its compulsory public subscription) in order to retain top-flight talent. Really? More than a quarter of a million, for Scott Mills?
While you can certainly argue that some of the colourful BBC TV and radio characters of old were perhaps several shades too colourful, the vaunting of Scott Mills – who has no colour at all – was surely an overreaction. My eyes always struggle to stay on him, my brain battles to retain any information about him, even after decades of semi-ubiquity. Even when the news broke yesterday I had to really force my brain to identify the correct man.
Those of us who adored Terry Wogan as the Radio 2 breakfast host, and regarded his departure as akin to the cracking open of one of the seven seals, have been horrified by the trashing of the slot by his successors. Wogan’s Radio 2 breakfast show was certainly lively, occasionally even riotous, but it was reassuring, inventive and playful – qualities that cannot be attributed to its inheritors.
But at least you knew Chris Evans and Zoe Ball were there. Mills is one of those bland media figures whose presence is a kind of absence.
Comments