Vernon Kay will present his first mid-morning weekday BBC Radio 2 show on Monday, May 15 it has been announced.

Kay, 49, is replacing Ken Bruce who presented the programme for 31 years until March 3.

Fellow BBC Radio 2 DJ Gary Davies has been temporarily hosting the show since early March when Bruce stepped down. 

The BBC said Kay will bring “big tunes, big names and big laughs” to listeners, as well as introducing a few new surprises.

The show is due to run from 9.30am to 12pm every weekday.

It will feature the daily music quiz Ten To The Top, Tracks Of My Years, the Record and Album Of The Week, and performances from the Radio 2 Piano Room.

Kay is set to have an "unforgettable" start to his new role with two new Piano Room sessions scheduled for his first few weeks.

One of them will be with Def Leppard on Thursday, May 18 and another with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds on June 1.

Kay said: “To be hosting the new Radio 2 mid-morning show is a total privilege. It’s going to be an unforgettable start to what promises to be an amazing journey.

“And to have two music legends coming up in the Radio 2 Piano Room is a dream come true.”

Kay, who is married to Strictly Come Dancing presenter Tess Daly, is known for fronting various shows on Channel 4 and ITV programmes including All Star Family Fortunes, Just The Two Of Us, and Beat The Star.

He presented a BBC Radio 1 show between 2004 and 2012 and another on Radio X between 2015 and 2017. 

He has filled in for BBC Radio 2 presenters including Zoe Ball, Steve Wright, Rylan Clark and Dermot O’Leary in the past as well.

Following the announcement earlier this year he would be taking over from Bruce on BBC Radio 2, Kay became emotional after reflecting on the support he had received.

Appearing on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show he said BBC Radio 2 was “in my DNA” and hailed Bruce as an “absolute legend of broadcasting”.

He said: “You don’t think of any other DJ when you think of that slot.

“Whatever channel you choose to listen to, whoever is on mid-mornings, it’s the Ken Bruce slot. He has made it his own and he is an absolute legend of broadcasting.

“To be asked to step into those big shoes… it was a big deep breath, I’ll be honest with you.

“Obviously I am over the moon and so are my parents and Tess and the kids, but it’s the Ken Bruce show and the man has raised the bar so high that I’m just so excited to be able to take the reins.”

Where is Ken Bruce now?

Bruce, 72, announced he was leaving the BBC in January.

He has moved over to Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio, where he has been since April. 

He now presents a new mid-morning show on Greatest Hits Radio from 10am to 1pm.