Sara Cox launches 6 July Radio 2 breakfast show with Tom Hanks
sara cox will launch her first Radio 2 Breakfast Show on Monday 6 July, and she has already set the tone by naming Tom Hanks as the opening guest. The show will run from 6.30am to 9.30am, putting a new early slot around a presenter who has built the reveal around pace, jokes and one very prominent booking.
Vernon Kay’s Radio 2 show
Cox shared the news on Vernon Kay’s Radio 2 show after taking on Jeremy Vine in Ten to the Top. She won the quiz, then used the moment to spell out the start date, telling listeners: "OK, my big news is...god, I've gone all hot and excited. My big news is that...there's been quite a lot of mystery about when the brand new Sara Cox Breakfast Show begins on Radio 2. I've been quite mysterious and going, 'it's in the summer' and waggling my eyebrows mysteriously. But I can now announce, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and everyone in between, please do join me for my very first Breakfast Show on Radio 2 on 6 of July. Three weeks today! Very very excited. It is 6.30am. The date is the 6 July."
The timing matters because the move fixes the show’s daily rhythm at 6.30am to 9.30am, a sharper early-morning window than her current afternoon slot. Cox also said the programme will have a fresh format, mixing favourite parts from the afternoon with new breakfast features and putting listeners at the heart of the show.
Tom Hanks at breakfast
Hanks is booked as the first guest, and Cox linked him to his new film Toy Story 5. She said: "And, you know, I mentioned the Toy Story news as well. I mean, I don't know where we go from here because I think we've started almost too big. My very first guest on the Sara Cox Breakfast Show will be…Mr. Tom Hanks."
She followed that with a line that did the real work of the announcement: "Woody at Breakfast. Yes, cannot wait!" That gives the launch an immediate hook, but it also sets a high bar for the show’s tone. Starting with Hanks makes the first edition feel designed for reach, not just routine scheduling.
42 alarm clocks
The most revealing aside came when Jeremy Vine asked how many alarm clocks she would use. Cox answered: "42." It is a neat bit of radio shorthand, but it also fits the shape of the launch: a breakfast show built around an early start, a big guest and a presenter already playing the game in public before the first broadcast.
Cox also told listeners, "I can't wait – it’s so exciting." That is the right call here. The launch gives Radio 2 a new breakfast voice, but the booking of Hanks gives the first show the kind of opening that should pull in listeners who usually need a stronger reason than a schedule change to tune in at dawn.
