As she kicks off her new radio gig after nearly two years away from the airwaves, Zoe Ball admits she’s experiencing some “first day of a new school” nerves. Zoe, 55, stepped away from her long-running BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in December 2024, but she’s back in the studio at Greatest Hits Radio this week, taking the helm of the coveted 1-4pm slot.
“I was there last week practising, getting all the features together and making plans,” she tells us a few days ahead of her first show. “It’s nerve-wracking. It’s that feeling of new jobs and new schools. There is something a little bit scary about being the new person in the room and being in a new place of work.
“My dad always used to say to me, ‘Zo, if you don’t get nervous, it means you don’t care any more.’ And I think that’s it – it’s that passion, and you want it to go well. “But I have to say, my team there is so much fun, and I’m surrounded by my mates with Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo being there. It’s all familiar, but it’s also new. It’s lovely to have a new home and have something to be really excited about.”
The BBC has been a regular workplace for Zoe since the 90s. She started in kids’ TV before becoming the first ever woman to present the Radio 1 Breakfast Show in 1997. It’s also where her dad, Johnny Ball, spent his professional years when Zoe was growing up, hosting shows like Play School and Think Of A Number in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
