Top of the Pops episodes presented by Scott Mills appear to have been removed from the BBC Four schedule after his sudden firing in March.
The BBC announced last week that the Radio 2 presenter’s contract had been terminated over “allegations about his personal conduct”, with the Metropolitan Police later revealing that it had investigated Mills over allegations of serious sexual offences involving a teenage boy under 16 in 2016.
While Mills was not charged after the Crown Prosecution Service found that “the evidential threshold had not been met”, the BBC fired him on March 30 after receiving “new information” in the weeks before his sacking.
Now, it appears that Mills is slowly being scrubbed from the BBC’s archives – with viewers noticing that three episodes of Top of the Pops won’t be airing as part of BBC Four’s repeats. The three episodes, which aired on 6, 13 and 20 August in 1999, were all hosted by Mills.
The weekly episodes that aired in May, June and July of that year are currently available to stream on BBC iPlayer, however that isn’t the case for those hosted by Mills in August – which have been skipped in the schedule. The next episode to air is the 26 August episode fronted by Gail Porter, which will be broadcast on BBC Four on Friday.
The Independent has contacted the BBC for comment.
Top of the Pops isn’t the only show to be removed that features Mills following his firing; the presenter’s “Top Picks” page was removed from iPlayer last week, while his short podcast series with Mercedes-Benz, titled Under the Bonnet: On the Road, has also been removed from Spotify.
On Friday (3 April), a plaque honouring Mills at Fleet Services was removed following the scandal. It had been unveiled in March 2016 on the M3 motorway services bridge following a campaign by Mills’ then-co host Chris Stark.
It was reported at the weekend that Mills may lose his honorary doctorate of arts from Southampton Solent University, which he received in 2009. According to the Press Association, the university’s doctorate scrutiny panel will recommend that the award be rescinded when they meet later this month.
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Mills has also been scrubbed from upcoming BBC projects – with Tyler West replacing him on the Race Across the World companion podcast and the broadcasting corporation confirming that Mills won’t be hosting the Eurovision Song Contest this year.
The presenter released a statement last week following his firing, confirming that the Met Police’s statement related to him.
“An allegation was made against me in 2016 of a historic sexual offence, which was the subject of a police investigation in which I fully cooperated and responded to in 2018,” he said.
“As the police have stated, a file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service, which determined that the evidential threshold had not been met to bring charges.
“Since the investigation related to an allegation that dates back nearly 30 years and the police investigation was closed 7 years ago, I hope that the public and the media will understand and respect my wish not to make any further public comment on this matter.”
He concluded the statement by thanking the former colleagues and listeners who reached out to him.
