Zoe Ball has returned to the airwaves after an unscheduled six-week absence from hosting her flagship show on BBC Radio 2.
The broadcaster, who is the BBC’s highest-paid female presenter on a £950,000 annual salary, had been away from The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show since August 8.
Returning 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, 53, thanked her colleague and radio presenter Scott Mills for filling in for her, before playing Earth, Wind & Fire’s September.
She then read out a message from a listener and responded, saying: “No, I didn’t go to Turkey for new face and teeth”.
There had been no official reason given as to why Ball had been absent for more than six weeks.
Her absence sparked a wave of speculation from fans after she had told social media followers: “See you at dawn,” the night before her first day off in August.
Her mother Julia died in April, 12 weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
It was reported that BBC bosses had told her to take “as much time as she needs” to grieve and they were doing “everything they can” to help her return to work when she was ready.
She confirmed her return to work in a post on X on Sunday, writing: “Back on breakfast bbcradio2 tomorrow morning at 6:30.”
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.
She also co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
Ball has presented the BBC spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, and ITV’s reality competition show Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream.