Emma spices up breakfast on Heart as Jamie’s new sidekick

 
Alex Lentati
Alistair Foster11 December 2012
The Weekender

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Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton is to become the new breakfast co-host at Heart FM next month.

The singer and presenter has been brought in following the departure of Harriet Scott, who was on air with Jamie Theakston for seven years.

The move comes as the station finds itself fourth in the London breakfast show ratings with 611,000 tuning each day — behind Kiss FM, Magic FM and leader Capital Radio, which pulls in 1.16 million listeners.

Bunton, 36, has enjoyed a superb year in which she performed with the Spice Girls at the Olympics closing ceremony and helped the band create their new musical Viva Forever! which opens in the West End tomorrow night.

She said: “I’m so blinking excited about starting with Jamie. I just genuinely love it, and I’m loving life so much.

“I’m seeing the girls later about the musical — it’s been an amazing process with [producer] Judy Craymer and [writer] Jennifer Saunders.

“Geri and I sat with Judy at the very start and asked her if she would be interested. Jennifer is a brilliant writer and they’ve just done their thing.”

Bunton already presents an afternoon show on Heart FM and has filled in on the breakfast show in the past.

She added: “Jamie and I have known each other for a long time. Generally, we’ve always taken the mickey out of each other. Hopefully I will bring a lot of energy to the role.”

Theakston, 41, said: “I did one of the first TV interviews of the Spice Girls. I feel we’ve been doing things together for some time.”

Bunton will be juggling her new role with bringing up her two boys Beau, four, and 18-month-old Tate with her long-term partner Jade Jones.

She added: “I can come in, have a laugh and fry-up with Jamie and get back in time to pick them up from nursery.”

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