Matt Edmondson and Mollie King to host BBC Radio 1 weekend breakfast

Matt Edmondson and Mollie King will be the new hosts of the BBC Radio 1 weekend breakfast show.

The pair will swap with Dev and Alice, who will take over their weekend afternoon slot.

Matt and Mollie will host breakfast between Friday and Sunday as part of Radio 1's three-day weekend schedule. Greg James hosts the other four days.

Mollie, a former member of The Saturdays, said she was "blown away" to be asked to co-host breakfast.

"I remember the buzz I got when I first walked into Radio 1 as a guest, 10 years ago, and that buzz is still with me now every time I step through the studio doors," she said.

In a statement, Matt joked: "Getting to present the Radio 1 breakfast show three days a week is an absolute dream come true, as is working with Mollie (a nightmare is technically still a dream)."

The schedule change may have been sparked by Charlie Sloth's unexpectedly early departure from Radio 1 last week.

As a result, Dev has been covering Sloth's evening show The 8th - which, according to Radio 1's website, he will continue to do for the foreseeable future.

If he had stayed on breakfast, this would have meant a late-night finish for Dev on Thursdays, followed by an early-morning start on Fridays.

In a statement, Dev and Alice made light of their move to afternoons.

"The thing we will really miss is setting that 4am alarm, but in time we think we might get used to it," they joked.

"We love doing the show together, and the afternoons have such a good energy about them - these shows are ideal for our sense of humour and the kind of things we like to talk about."

Matt has been presenting on Radio 1 since 2010 in various slots, but Mollie is newer to the station.

Her profile received a boost after taking part in Strictly Come Dancing last year, and she officially joined Matt as co-host of his weekend show in June.

Adding a female co-host to a BBC radio show with a solo male presenter isn't always a good idea, but bosses are understood to be pleased with the pair's chemistry and the reaction from listeners.

The duo also guest presented This Morning over the summer while Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were away.

Radio 1's decision to let their weekday DJs have Fridays off and pull the weekend schedule forward by a day was met with surprise when it was announced in April.

"I think when they broke the news to me they were expecting resistance," Greg James told BBC News earlier this year.

"I was quite pleased for a Friday off. I feel very lucky that I get to do four days a week and have Friday to recover and have a life and have some things to talk about for the Monday.

"So it's, for me, perfect. We were like [to management], 'Are you sure?! OK, not going to argue with that!'

"The way I looked at it was there's nothing you can do in five days that you couldn't do in four. I just think the pressure's on even more to make those four shows amazing."

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