Zoe Ball breaks her silence on new Greatest Hits Radio gig and says she's 'excited' to get back to work after leaving Radio 2 to grieve her mother and 'be there' for her daughter

By JOANNA CRAWLEY, DEPUTY SHOWBIZ EDITOR (NEWS) Published: 08:45, 1 July 2026 | Updated: 09:07, 1 July 2026 Zoe Ball has revealed her excitement at returning to radio after accepting a new daily show on Greatest Hits. The star, 55, left BBC Radio 2 at the height of her success, quitting the coveted Breakfast Show in 2024 and her Saturday afternoon show a year later. She later explained how she was struggling to cope with her grief after losing her mum to cancer in 2024, which combined with 'crippling' anxiety from perimenopause made her unable to make it through some of her shows.  A year on, and Zoe will take over from Kate Thornton on Greatest Hits Radio from September 7, with her show sandwiched between her two former BBC Radio 2 colleagues Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo. Breaking her silence on the career move, Zoe told friend Jo Whiley on the pair's Dig It Podcast: 'I'm so excited.' She explained that the time felt right to return to radio, and that after three decades of working she had enjoyed two years out to focus on her family - specifically her daughter Nelly, who was going through her GCSEs at the time of her BBC exit. Zoe Ball has revealed her excitement at returning to radio after accepting a new daily show on Greatest Hits 'Well, you know how it's been,' Zoe told Jo. 'I lost mum and I really was like, I want to take some time and I want to go and be there for my girl because I've always worked. I've never been around.' 'After losing mum, I thought, hang on, no, stop, take some time, be there for your girl during her GCSEs.' But Nelly is now 16 and recently moved out of Zoe's home to live with her dad, the DJ Fatboy Slim, aka Norman Cook, gently forcing Zoe to reconsider her priorities.  'I've sort of said on the pod, actually, I've been around and she's a bit like, "mum, what are you still doing here?" And she's finished her GCSEs now and she's loving her freedom.' 'Anyway, this really amazing opportunity came up,' Zoe continued, adding that her afternoon show fits in perfectly with home life. 'It's a lovely shift, Jo. It's one till four, which is great because it means I get to be mum in the morning and mum in the evening if I need to. I can be around if she needs me,' she gushed.  'And I'm following my wonderful friend Ken Bruce and then I'm going into my mate Simon Mayo because I used to do breakfast with Simon Mayo before.' 'So I've got friends either side and I will be playing great music from the 70s, 80s and 90s at Greatest Hits Radio. They are a lovely team. They're such a brilliant team.' She explained that the time felt right to return to radio, and that after three decades of working she had enjoyed two years out to focus on her family - specifically her daughter Nelly (Pictured: Zoe's son Woody, ex husband Norman Cook, Nelly and Woody's girlfriend Ruby) 'There's a load of old mates there and they've been really welcoming, but it was just too good to turn down. I was like, actually, this is great. So I'm going to be back behind the mic five days a week.' Zoe did admit to some nerves though, pointing out that after almost twenty years at Radio 2, 'I've got to be the new girl. It's so scary.'  Zoe was also keen to call out her old BBC boss, Head of Radio 2 Helen Thomas, calling her 'such an amazing woman' who has supported her throughout her BBC years and then exit. 'She's had to deal with quite a lot in recent years of changes and stuff, but she has always been so brilliantly supportive. And she really looked after me both professionally and personally with all sorts of stuff through my time at Radio 2,' Zoe explained.  Prior to quitting the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, Zoe had been one of the Corporation’s highest-paid female stars, taking home £950,000 a year. After an extended break following her mother’s death, she returned to the show for just a few months before announcing her departure at the end of 2024. She took over the Saturday afternoon slot but also quit that less than a year later in December 2025. She also told how suffering from ‘crippling anxiety’ while coping with the grief of her mother’s death and going through perimenopause left her struggling to get through the shows. The long-running BBC presenter said she started to have ‘panic attacks’ after her mother Julia died from pancreatic cancer in April 2024. Coupled with symptoms of the perimenopause, Zoe said she often found herself ‘struggling’ to do her radio shows. ‘For me personally I’ve always been very laid back, I worry about the regular things,’ she said on a recent episode of her podcast. Zoe will take over from Kate Thornton on Greatest Hits Radio from September 7, with her show sandwiched between her two former BBC Radio 2 colleagues Simon Mayo and Ken Bruce ‘But I started to have panic attacks and I think it was from grief, because that’s when it started for me.’ She said that ‘crippling’ was ‘the word’ she would use to describe how she felt, adding that she ‘didn’t really know where to go with it’ as she was reluctant to visit her GP. The presenter said that, for two years during that period, she was on antidepressants to cope with the anxiety and panic attacks. ‘I did take them for a couple of years,’ she wrote on Instagram in reply to a follower’s comment. ‘A low dose of sertraline. Via my doctor. Not on them anymore. 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