Claudia Winkleman has quit her BBC Radio 2 show.
Claudia Winkleman has quit her radio show
The 51-year-old presenter - who has Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 12, with husband Kris Thykier - has hosted the Saturday mid-morning show for almost three years and today (01.12.23) she announced during the programme she will be stepping down in March, with Romesh Ranganathan set to take over.
Apologising for "such a boring cliche", she told listeners: "Time is going too fast, my daughter is getting ready to leave home and she was three about five minutes ago.
"I still have a little one who wants to be with me, don't know how long that will last, and I just need to be at home more.
"So my news at 10 is that I am leaving."
The 'Strictly Come Dancing' host later added in a statement that she will "miss" the show but thinks Romesh is a "brilliant" choice to take over.
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.
"I couldn’t be happier that Romesh is taking over Saturday mornings on Radio 2. He is brilliantly laugh out loud funny, and I’ll listen every single week as my kids beg me to leave them alone."
Meanwhile, Romesh joked he is "grateful" to get to spend more time away from his own family.
He said in a statement: "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.
"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."
Tagged in Claudia Winkleman Romesh Ranganathan