Paul O’Grady has explained why he decided to leave BBC Radio 2 after 14 years.
Last week, the For the Love of Dogs presenter had announced that he was stepping down from hosting his Sunday afternoon show on the station, after recent changes saw him share the spot with comic Rob Beckett in 13-week stints.
At the time, Radio 2 tweeted: “We wish Paul the very best of luck and hope to work with him again in the future.”
On Sunday (14 August), the presenter shared a video to Instagram explaining the reasons for his departure.
“I just want to say that tonight is my very last show on Radio 2 after 14 years,” he said, adding that he had “never had a job for that long”.
“I want to say thank you very much for listening and for all your emails and all your messages and all the fun I’ve had over the years,” O’Grady continued.
“The reason I’m leaving, because everybody’s asked me this, it’s because I wasn’t really happy with the 13 weeks on, 13 weeks off business. So I did the honourable thing – I honoured my contract, gave my notice and now I’m off.”
He concluded his post: “Anyway, thanks very much and good luck to everyone on Radio 2 and long may you continue. See you.”
O’Grady’s post was met with an outpouring of support from his fans and famous friends.
“Love you so much Paul,” Carol Vorderman wrote. “Don’t even think about retiring.... There’s only one of you.”
“Love your radio show,” Jools Holland commented, while Amanda Holden simply shared a heart emoji.
