Joe Mace will co-host the Saturday Show

Behr came into youth television as a youngster herself.

The 26-year-old was a teenager when she was picked as one of the presenters of the controversial late-night show, The Word.

She stayed in the tabloid headlines due to high-profile relationships with the likes of footballer Ryan Giggs and Five's J Brown.

She took a detour into acting, starring in the British movie Rancid Aluminium, which flopped.

She fared better with the well-received Goodbye Charlie Bright.

"They met her and thought she was great for the job," said the agent of Behr's appointment to the BBC show.

Behr's co-host Mace currently fronts TOTP Plus. He has also worked for the TV channel UK Play.

"These are great signings. They will be brilliant for Saturday mornings," said a BBC spokesman.

New format

The new programme will go out from 22 September.

Unusually it has been booked for a year-long run. Live and Kicking had a 30-week run, replaced by other shows during the summer months.

The Saturday Show is expected to move away from its predecessor's format.

It has already launched a Popstars-style search for a young group to appear each week as the house band.

Ant and Dec have proved popular with young audiences

Live and Kicking's most recent team of presenters failed to come close to the winning formula of Zoe Ball and Jamie Theakston.

Ratings started falling when the pair quit the show and for the first time in years the BBC found its Saturday morning show falling behind its rival.

A spokeswoman for the new series said: "It's going to be a really new, fresh and funky format with a completely new style of set."

"It will be a complete departure from what has been on before."