Greg James confirms Radio 1 show return and reveals he’s ‘exhausted’ as he shares update on dad’s open heart surgeries
GREG James has confirmed his Radio 1 show return and revealed that he’s ‘exhausted’ as he shared an update on his dad’s recent open heart surgeries.
The radio star, 40, was missing from the Radio 1 Breakfast, which airs weekdays from 7am to 10:30am, on Wednesday and Thursday (18 June 2026).
Greg took to his Instagram story this morning to reveal the heart-breaking reason why – and admitted that he’s “in no fit state” because his father Alan Milward has undergone heart surgery.
Then this afternoon, he decided to give his 1.3m followers on the social media platform an update.
Sharing a selfie from a sauna, Greg wrote: “Hello from the sauna! I felt daft updating on all of this but because it was such a loud part of the comic relief challenge, I feel like it’s nice to be honest about it all.
“Just to say, my dad is responsive, just about conscious and being looked after amazingly.
“Obviously, after two open heart surgeries in three months, he’s not out of the woods by a long way, but we’re hopeful he’ll be fixed and we can all just get on with life.
“Which is what I’m gonna try and do.
“I won’t keep updating on here about it all as quite frankly, we’re all exhausted by it and it’s going to be a long road to recovery.”
He then went on to share exactly when he’ll be back on the radio – and fans don’t have long to wait.
Greg continued: “I’ve wanted to make sure my mum is OK so it’s been nice to spend loads of time with her and my big sis, but I’m back to the show tomorrow and I can’t wait.
“Thank you again for the most amazing load of messages.
“It’s genuinely very comforting.”
It comes after Greg told fans yesterday: “Hello from my mum’s garden! I wasn’t on the breakfast show today as my dad was in for another go at heart surgery (it’s been a wild few months and I didn’t want to bore you with it all).
“But here we are. Back to square one. Waiting for news and staying distracted and keeping calm by making water features.
“All being well, back on tomorrow morning.”
However Greg later revealed Alan’s surgery took “much longer” than they’d expected so he would be taking another day off.
He said: “What a great day! An absolute hoot in ICU.
“Surgery was much longer than everyone hoped. Big up my mum and my big sis. And the surgeons. And the NHS. What a gang. We’ve all gone mad.
“Real talk, surgery went ok but he’s far from out of the woods so I’m gonna take it easy tomorrow and hopefully back on Friday.
“Plus, I’m in no fit state to be on the radio. I mean, look at me, I’m posting photos from intensive care ffs. Thank you for your lovely messages.”
In March Greg had to cancel his show and rush home after Alan suffered a stroke during a planned heart operation.
He later opened up about his dad’s struggles during his 1,000km tandem bike ride for Red Nose Day.
Undertaking the mammoth task just a week after Alan’s stroke, Greg got emotional talking about the man he calls “Big Al”.
He said: “I feel elated. I feel a bit overwhelmed by all these people who just turned up out of nowhere. I just burst into tears as I was going up to Blaenavon. It was all a bit much.
“Just thought about… I just thought about everything. Just thought about my dad, thought about my mum. It got way too much. It’s so silly. It must have been the altitude.”
