BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans loses voice on air

Sports presenter Alexander joked that he was just Evans' "ventriloquist dummy".

BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans was forced to hand over his breakfast show to a colleague after losing his voice.

The award-winning host showed up to present his programme as usual on Thursday but struggled to speak to his nine million listeners.

"Is this going to work? I don't think it is," he said at the beginning of the show as he croaked his morning welcome.

"I have tried everything," he added before handing over the microphone to sports presenter Vassos Alexander.

"Those were the longest three hours of my life," Alexander said. "Chris still did all the hard work though, I was just his ventriloquist dummy!"

Evans gave Alexander tips on how to present the show, including how to talk over the jingles.

The programme, which Evans took over in January 2010 from long-time presenter Sir Terry Wogan, has been nominated for breakfast show of the year at this year's Sony Radio Academy awards earlier this week.

Zoe Ball will be stepping in to present the breakfast show on Friday.