Zoe Ball reaches out to Lauren Laverne and Jamie Theakston after cancer news on Radio 2 return

Radio presenters Lauren Laverne and Jamie Theakston have both gone public with news they have been diagnosed with cancer this month

BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball paid tribute to Lauren Laverne and Jamie Theakston after the pair revealed their cancer diagnoses.

The BBC Radio 2 presenter, 53, has been absent from the airwaves on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show since she briefly returned on August 8, following a summer break.

Ball told listeners that their messages of support to her “meant the world”. She added: “I must say, while we are sending some love, our breakfast friends Lauren Laverne, our mate at 6 Music is currently going through some cancer treatment.

“She’s doing OK but I just want to send my love out to her.”

Zoe also said that Heart Breakfast’s Theakston, who was on BBC children’s TV show Live & Kicking with her and announced he was going through stage one laryngeal cancer earlier this month, was “going to be OK and he’s doing well/ Sending so much love to them,” she added.

Earlier, as she returned on Monday morning, she dubbed herself the “happy wanderer”, saying: “I have wandered back. How was your Brat summer? Was it marvellous? Have you been enjoying summer?

“We did that back in the ’90s, it was called something different then … bringing back memories.”

She added: “I hope you’ve been enjoying some of the gorgeous sunsets over the last couple of weeks. It’s a tad soggy our end this morning. Take it easy out on the roads … ”

Ball, who is the BBC’s highest-paid on-air female star, thanked her colleague and fellow radio presenter Scott Mills for “looking after you for the last few weeks”, and added: “I love you, Scott.”

Mills was recently announced as the winner of the BBC’s Celebrity Race Across The World alongside his husband Sam Vaughan.

After playing Earth, Wind & Fire’s September, she read out a message from a listener and responded, saying: “No, I didn’t go to Turkey for new face and teeth.”

She confirmed her return to work in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday, writing: “Back on breakfast @bbcradio2 tomorrow morning at 06.30.”

In April, Ball announced the death of her mother, Julia Peckham, writing in an Instagram post: “We are bereft without you but will hold so tight to each other.”

Ball took over the Radio 2 morning programme in 2019 from Chris Evans.

She was the first female host of the Radio 1 Breakfast Show in 1998, a post she held until 2000.