By james art 
The Eastleigh-born DJ takes over one of the BBC’s flagship radio shows, which airs from 6.30am to 9.30am, and Pod Ball is Britain’s biggest breakfast program on radio.
Topka left in December, and Mark Goder and Gabby Roslin have stepped in to present the program on an interim basis.
Before taking the helm on Monday, Mills admitted he was “a bit excited and nervous” and said it would be “all changes at Radio 2 HQ”.
Mills added in a Radio 2 teaser released last week that news reporter Tina Dailey and traffic and travel reporter Ellie Brennan would join him on the show, along with celebrity guests, and said they had “booked a choir to do the jingles’.
He was well-wished in an Instagram video by us singer Katy Perry, who said she hoped to meet him in October – when she performs at London’s O2 Arena – and in the comments section by presenters Angelica Bell and Davina McCall.
Mills has been entertaining radio listeners across the country for decades, starting his career aged 16 at a local commercial station in Hampshire.
He hosted some of the BBC’s biggest shows, including joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998. and host the station’s early morning breakfast show.
Mills presented various programs on Radio 1 before launching his popular show of the same name in 2004, which aired between 1pm and 4pm, and later the official chart show from 2018.
Chris Stark joined as co-host on The Scott Mills Show in 2012. and the pair became popular thanks to a number of comedy segments, including Innuendo Bingo.
During his time on Radio 1, he picked up the award for Best Musical Entertainment at the Audio and Radio Industry Awards (Arias) in 2021 and has been nominated again in 2022.
Mills also hosts Saturday morning shows on BBC Radio 5 Live with Stark and presented the Eurovision Song Contest, commentating alongside Rylan Clarke, as well as sitting for a ball.
He moved to BBC Radio 2 in 2022 to take over the afternoon slot from 2pm to 4pm, succeeding veteran presenter Steve Wright, who died last year.
Last year, Mills won BBC reality show Celebrity Race Around the World with husband Sam Vaughan after trekking across South America on a shoestring.
Mills also appeared on Channel 4’s Gogglebox with Eurovision star Sam Ryder and had a stint on Strictly Come Dancing with professional partner Joanne Clifton.
In 2022 he completed a 24-hour treadmill challenge, raising more than £1m for BBC Children.
Mills is one of the BBC’s highest-paid stars, on a salary of £315,000 to £319,999 in 2023/24, according to the corporation’s annual report published in July.
This has risen from £300,000 to £304,999 in the previous period.
Ball was the BBC’s highest-paid presenter in 2023/24. with a salary of between £950,000 and £954,999, ranking her second in the list of top-earning talent behind Gary Lineker.
She took over from Chris Evans in January 2019.
According to audience research body Rajar, an average of 6.28 million people tuned in to her show every week between July and September last year.
It was the biggest audience for any breakfast program in the UK, ahead of Jamie Thackston and Amanda Holden’s Radio Today on Radio 4 and Greg James on Radio 1.
Later on Monday, Trevor Nelson picks up the previous weekday 2 p.m. Until 16:00.