Claudia Winkleman has announced she will be quitting her BBC Radio 2 show after 15 years on air.
The presenter, 51, shared the news with her listeners during Saturday’s show admitting she wishes to spend more time with her children.
She shares Jake, 19, Matilda, 15, and Arthur, 10, with her film producer partner, Kris Thykier, 50, who she married in 2000.
Claudia’s final show will broadcast in March, after which she will be replaced by Romesh Ranganathan.
The media personality explained how it had been an ‘absolute privilege’ to host the show as she thanked her listeners.
Claudia Winkleman, 51, has announced she will be quitting her BBC Radio 2 show after 15 years on air
The presenter shared the news with her listeners during Saturday’s show admitting she wishes to spend more time with her daughter (pictured in 2017)
She began: ‘I would love to share mind, firstly, I’m going to say it out loud and with vim, I love Radio 2.’
‘It is an absolute privilege to be here every Saturday, chatting to amazing guests, being with Sally and mainly read your fantastic messages.
‘But here’s the thing and it is such a boring cliché so I apologise. Time is going too fast. My daughter is getting ready to leave home and she was 3 about 5 minutes ago.
‘I still have a little one who wants to be with me. I 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 – but I have two pieces of exceptional news. One – the person taking over is one of the funniest and smartest people on earth.
‘We are going to love listening to him every Saturday at 10. Think of this if you will as an early Christmas present.
‘The one and only Romesh Ranganathan is going to be here from April and he is majestic.
‘Number two, the second piece of good news, is before I leave in March the bosses have said I can play, and I’m unapologetic about this, an obscene amount of this.’
She shares Jake, 19, Matilda, 15, and Arthur, 10, with her film producer partner, Kris Thykier, 50, who she married in 2000 (pictured in March 2022)
She went on to play Oasis hit You Gotta Roll With it.
In a press release Claudia added: ‘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.’
Romesh added: ‘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.’
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