Claudia Winkleman quits BBC Radio 2 show

Claudia Winkelman has announced she will leave her Saturday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 next year.

The Strictly Come Dancing host told listeners she loved Radio 2 and that it was “an absolute privilege” being on the show every Saturday.

But she said she wanted to spend more time with her daughter, who is getting ready to leave home.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan will take over the 10:00 to 13:00 slot after Winkleman steps down in March.

Announcing her departure during her show on Saturday, she apologised to listeners for what she called “such a boring cliché”.

But she added: “Time is going too fast, my daughter is getting ready to leave home and she was three about five minutes ago.

“I still have a little one who wants to be with me, 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.”

Winkleman has three children with her partner, film producer Kris Thykier, whom she married in 2000.

In 2014, their daughter – then aged eight – sustained burns when her Halloween costume caught fire.

Reflecting on the incident later, Winkleman said: “She went up, is the only way I know how to describe it. It was not like fire I had seen before.”

Ranganathan will present his first show in April.

Winkleman, who took over the Saturday show almost three years ago, described Ranganathan as one of the “funniest and smartest people on earth”.

In a statement, Ranganathan said he was grateful to her for wanting to spend more time with her children, “enabling me to spend less time with mine”.

He added: “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.”