BBC sport couple split and Sky girl comes on as a sub

The nine-year marriage of BBC radio sports broadcasters Eleanor Oldroyd and Nick Mullins has hit the rocks - and he has taken up with a glamorous blonde TV reporter.

The couple will find it hard to make a clean break, however. With Miss Oldroyd anchoring Five Live's Sunday sports programme from lunchtime through to early evening, and Mullins part of the BBC's commentary team for next month's rugby World Cup in France, their paths seem destined to cross, at least on air.

Mullins, who is in his early 40s, has substituted 43-year-old Miss Oldroyd, with whom he has two young daughters, for Melissa Platt, who works for rival broadcaster Sky Sports.

She is an ambitious 30-year-old touchline rugby reporter and has also represented England at lacrosse.

If the diminutive and mild-mannered Miss Oldroyd, a vicar's daughter, does find herself on air with Mullins she can probably be relied upon to deal with the situation with the same aplomb that has made her one of the most authoritative sporting voices in a predominantly male industry.

A keen follower of a host of sports, her career has taken her to many of the world's top sporting events, including the 2000 Sydney Olympics - with Mullins.

Their marriage in 1998 was the second for both of them. They set up home in Barnes, South-West London, and soon had their children Erin and Rosalie, who are aged six and seven. It is understood the split may date back several months but has just become public.

However, Miss Platt has been telling friends that she and Mullins are now a couple. She began working for Sky in 2002 and within a year was covering rugby union as a touchline reporter, appearing on the Rugby Club.

Working on both Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup matches, her path will have crossed with Mullins. Miss Platt attended the leading independent girls' school St Helen and St Katharine in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

She became head girl and landed a place on the England Under-19s lacrosse team.

Scroll down for more...

She has represented her country at World Cup events. Miss Oldroyd was educated at public school and Cambridge before starting her career at BBC Radio Shropshire. She moved to London in 1988 where she was a sports journalist at Radio Four before going to Five Live.

She has appeared on a string of programmes including Fighting Talk and as a ground reporter for Test Match Special.

She counts herself a lifelong cricket fanatic and when visiting Lord's proudly wears her Marylebone Cricket Club cufflinks. She is one of the privileged few to enjoy associate membership of MCC.

Her husband's career began on newspapers in Leicestershire before he moved on to BBC local radio then the national network.

He has been part of the radio team at the last three Rugby World Cups. Neither the BBC nor Sky would comment on their employees' private lives yesterday.

Answering the door at her large Victorian terraced family home, Miss Oldroyd refused to comment. Her husband could not be reached and Miss Platt did not respond to messages.

The love triangle brings back memories of another at Five Live when Fi Glover's two-year marriage to BBC editor Mark Sandell ended when he left her for rival presenter Victoria Derbyshire. The affair had developed as the pair chatted about football during breaks between programmes.