Scott Mills will stand in for Zoe Ball for another week on her Radio 2 Breakfast Show, as the star continues to take time off.

Schedules for Monday to Friday next week show that seasoned Radio 2 star Scott will cover the Breakfast Show, while DJ Spoony and OJ Borg take over his usual afternoon slot. 

Zoe hasn't been on the airwaves since August 8, with Scott and Gabby Roslin stepping in for her since then.

Scott addressed his colleague's absence on August 12, telling listeners that he was unexpectedly taking over.  

'If you set your alarm every morning to go off at 6:30am and normally Zoe comes on, please do not freak out. You have not overslept,' he told listeners, adding that he would be in the hotseat for awhile.

'If you've just put us on this morning, it's Scott Mills in for Zoe for the next few weeks. I'm sending you all my love Zo', as are the team,' he said.   

Fans and colleagues of Zoe say they are concerned for the DJ, whose annual salary of £950,000 makes her the BBC's highest-paid woman.

Before leaving her show in August, the star enjoyed a holiday to Ibiza with her son Woody and daughter Nelly and attended Brighton Pride. 

She then returned to work for three days before leaving the show.

The BBC has not offered any explanation for her absence, other than a spokeswoman saying last week that she will be back later this month.

Zoe, 53, has also been unusually quiet on social media with her last Instagram message posted on August 5. 

It featured a picture of her with her two children saying she was 'jet lagged, brighton pride lagged [and] ibiza lagged'.

One BBC insider told The Mail on Sunday: 'Nobody knows what has happened but everyone loves Zoe. 

'We hope everything is okay. Zoe is so loved at the BBC so to not have her around is really noticeable.'

The Corporation is understood to have been contacted by fans concerned for her welfare. 

But some listeners have taken a dim view of her taking time off without explanation.

One tweeted: 'Is this a BBC scandal, complete misuse of licence payers' funds. 

'Zoe Ball gets to pick and choose her contract terms and conditions.

'She's never at work, more holidays than you can imagine. Are we mugs paying for this? No comment.'

Another added: 'Why are the BBC still paying Zoe Ball when she is still off air, just get rid of her for someone who does want to work early morning shift. '

In March, Zoe said she would be taking time off to care for her mother Julia Peckham, who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 

She died in April and the host returned to work on May 13. Last year, Ms Ball took three weeks off in Corfu to host Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream for rival ITV.

Zoe has overcome a series of tragedies and heartbreak that led her to take time away from Radio 2 to focus on her family earlier this year. 

The BBC icon, 53,  announced in April that her mother Julia had died after a battle with pancreatic cancer following her diagnosis just a month before.

Posting a tribute to her mother on social media, she said: 'Sleep tight dear Mama. 

'Thank you for teaching us how to love unconditionally, to always show courage and empathy, and how, even in the darkest of days, laughter is the greatest of gifts.  We are bereft without you but will hold so tight to each other.'

It is the latest in a string of tragedies the beloved Radio 2 presenter has had to endure. 

Her five-and-a-half year relationship with Michael Reed recently broke down, and seven years ago her partner Billy Yates took his own life in May 2017.

Mr Yates' death came after the breakdown of Ms Ball's 18-year marriage to DJ Fatboy Slim, real name Normal Cook.

Following her mother's cancer diagnosis, Zoe said she would be taking time away from the station to focus on her family.

At the time she said her family were going through 'tough times' but her mother was being extremely 'brave'.

At the start of March she posted a picture of Julia surrounded by family, as well as a second of her receiving chemotherapy in hospital, she wrote: 'Heartbreakingly our beautiful Mama Julia has been diagnosed with cancer.

'As many of you know from experience, these are extremely tough times. Mum is being incredibly brave.

'My brother Jamie and I are completely in awe of the brilliant doctors, nurses and support teams looking after Mum. Thank you.

'Gratitude to our families and our extended family & friends at home & at work for their support at this time.

'Sending out love to people reading this who are battling cancer, or awaiting diagnosis and also to the folk looking after their dear ones who are poorly.'

The family has been bedecked by hardship for decades, with Zoe's parents Julia and Johnny Ball, a former TV presenter, splitting up in 1972 after just three years of marriage.

Mr Ball remarried his second wife, Dianne Cheryl, in 1976, with the pair remaining together today.

As Zoe's own career took off, she and her husband Fatboy Slim supported one another on their rise to fame, with Slim later describing how she kept him down to earth by 'checking him' for his behaviour.

He told the Changes podcast: 'While you've got licence to break rules, you've always got a lot of people who'll let you get away with murder.

'Zoe was really good for me for that, because she knew the fame game and we would sort of check each other.

'If I wasn't respectful to people, she'd go: ''Oi, come on, that's not how we behave! Go back and thank them for that.'''

Yet sadly their marriage came to an end in 2016, with the couple announcing they had 'come to the end of their rainbow'.

Although Ms Ball soon found love again in partner Billy Yates, their relationship was also not set to last.

After a long battle with depression, Mr Yates, 40, took his own life in May 2017, at his home in Putney, south west London.

The Radio 2 presenter previously told how she felt 'really grateful' he had said goodbye to her the last time she saw him.

Fighting back tears as she spoke about their final moments together, she said: 'He got on his bike and he cycled off and he turned round and he blew me a kiss goodbye, and that was the last time I saw him.'

She added: 'It was just that moment and that feeling of ''Oh my god I love him so much, we'll find some help and it will all be okay.'' And I wish I'd told him that.'

A year after his death, Ms Ball took part in a gruelling Sport Relief challenge to cycle 350 miles in five days in his memory and to raise awareness of mental health issues.

She has consistently marked his death each year and returned to work at Radio 2 following his death wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with his name.

Despite her loss, the presenter found the courage to love again when she began dating former construction worker Michael Reed.

But while friends said he was a 'true gent' at first, their relationship broke down after more than five years in May 2023 after Mr Reed allegedly became 'a bit demanding'.

The couple had reportedly been arguing about very minor aspects of their life, such as Zoe spending time on her phone talking to friends.

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