POPULAR Bolton DJ Sara Cox is to return to Radio 1 following eight months maternity leave.

The 30-year-old will take over the lunchtime show at weekends from February 5.

It follows the birth of her baby girl Lola Anne Carter last June.

Sara takes over from former Key 103 presenters JK and Joel who move to the Chart Show on Sundays in March.

Cox said: "I'm looking forward to being back. Ive really missed being on the radio."

The former Smithills School and Canon Slade pupil left her Radio 1 drive-time show in good shape after latest figures revealed that 5.5 million listeners listened to the Bolton DJ.

It followed a time of turmoil for Sara. Her Breakfast Show suffered a disastrous slump in ratings and she was replaced by DJ Chris Moyles who went on to add 700,000 listeners.

Sara in turn took over Moyle's afternoon slot. But in maintaining steady audience figures on her drive-time show, she surprised her detractors.

It means the return of the former laddette, who rose to notoriety on Channel 4's The Girlie Show, is being welcomed by Beeb bosses.

Her baby was delivered at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in north London, weighing 7lb 11oz.

It is the first child for Sara and her club DJ husband Jon Carter, whom she married in 2001, and who already has a son from a previous relationship, called Sam.

She said: "I'm going to do my best not to burst into nursery rhymes, although The Wheels On The Bus is an old school classic."

Sara took over the Breakfast Show from Zoe Ball in March 2000, following a stint co-hosting a show with Emma B.

She attracted controversy with a series of gaffes, however, including accidentally playing a cocaine-snorting sequence on a record by rap singer Eminem.

The most serious was an insult directed at the Queen Mother live on air on her 100th birthday, describing her as "smelling of wee".

She also got into trouble when Ali G comic Sacha Baron Cohen littered his appearance on Sara's Breakfast Show with obscenities and referred to sex and drugs.

It prompted BBC bosses to tighten rules for guests when youngsters are more likely to be tuning in.