Sara Cox recalls the moment she discovered close friend and colleague Steve Wright had died while presenting her BBC Radio show: ‘I was a complete mess… people were hugging and crying’

Sara Cox admits it was “a complete disaster” after discovering her close friend and colleague Steve Wright had died while she was presenting her Radio 2 show.

Wright was found dead in his £2million home on February 12 after paramedics were called to an incident at the north-west London property.

And Cox, 49, who worked alongside the reclusive DJ at BBC Radio before his death, admits the tragic news came as a shock to the studio.

“It was a complete disaster,” he said. radio times. “We were all in complete shock. I looked at the production area and people were hugging and crying; “It really took our breath away as a station.”

The presenter was forced to continue hosting her afternoon show, despite fighting back tears, but insists she had no choice, “because you want to be a professional, you want to do the right thing for Steve, you want to do it right for the listeners and you want to support them in some way, but at the same time be real.

“For although the entire nation seems to be mourning, it was her children’s pain more than anyone else’s.”

Speaking to BBC Morning Live on February 14, two days after Wright’s death at the age of 69, Cox admitted she was still coming to terms with the loss of her friend.

“I have to be honest with you, to some extent it feels like family grief because we’ve lost one of our own,” she told host Gethin Jones.

“There was no preparation, there was no warning, we are all really shocked and very sad and we are all absolutely devastated.”

Reflecting on the immediate reaction to his death, he said: “We received thousands and thousands of text messages almost immediately, we were just trying to read them because people used to listen to Steve as a kid on the way to school and they’re still listening to him on the afternoon when they pick up their own children.

“Everyone, the nation, all the listeners, everyone genuinely feels like they’ve lost a family member or a good companion.”

He added: “He loved radio, he loved his listeners and he loved making people laugh.” He was a perfectionist, he was the king of radio, there will be no one like Steve Wright and we will miss him dearly.”

Away from his radio work and an appearance on the latest series of The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake Off, Cox is promoting his daring new novel, Way Back.

And he admits he has ambitious plans for who to cast as the central character, Josie, should she be adapted to the screen.

‘Why not aim high? “Cate Blanchett would do a great job, although I don’t know if she can do a Bolton accent,” she said. “Kate Winslet would be fantastic too.”

The full interview is available to read in the latest edition of Radio Times, out now.