Jeremy Clarkson still pleading for Top Gear return after Freddie Flintoff crash
It was taken off air by the BBC after the accident.
Jeremy Clarkson is still urging for a return of Top Gear, months after it was taken off air by the BBC following Freddie Flintoff’s horror crash.
In December 2022, the pro cricket player, 47, was left with life-changing injuries and scars after a near-fatal crash while filming on a Top Gear test track.
He was airlifted to hospital and said to be ‘lucky to be alive’.
Amid reaching a settlement with the BBC worth £9,000,000, and following months of speculation over the future of the show, Top Gear was taken off air for the foreseeable future.
Freddie’s co-stars Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris went on to front another BBC show, Paddy and Chris: Road Tripping, while the Bullseye host remained out of the spotlight for months as he recovered and is now sharing his story in a Disney Plus documentary.
There has been no news of Top Gear, which first aired in 1977 and has seen the likes of Angela Rippon, James May and Matt LeBlanc as hosts, making a return anytime soon, but Clarkson is now calling out for its comeback.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Up Next
Previous Page Next Page A timeline of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May's TV programmes together2003: The trio first hosted Top Gear together in 2003, with Hammond and Clarkson having presented the first season with Jason Dawe in 2002, before May took over.
2006: Hammond was involved in a near-fatal crash while filming Top Gear, when the front-right tyre of the Vampire Dragster he was driving failed while going at 319mph. He was in a coma for two weeks and suffered a brain injury, and has spoken how he is still triggered by the horrific crash.
2015: Their time on Top Gear came to an end when Clarkson was sacked for an ‘unprovoked physical and verbal attack’ on a producer. He later apologised and agreed to pay damages, while May and Hammond followed Clarkson and quit the show soon after, saying they came as a ‘package’.
2016: Clarkson, Hammond and May announced they were reuniting for an Amazon Prime Video series, before the first season of The Grand Tour aired later that year. When the news first broke, Clarkson said: ‘Piers Morgan said we would have 100,000 viewers but I don’t think it will be that high. Amazon Prime is relatively small in the UK so we’re not going to have huge figures.’ If he only knew…
2023: The BBC officially made the decision to ‘rest’ Top Gear for the ‘foreseeable future’, after Freddie Flintoff’s horror crash in December 2022.
2024: The Grand Tour comes to an end with two emotional specials, filmed in Mauritania and Zimbabwe.
‘I wouldn’t rule it out, but you do have to bear in mind that we’re all getting on a bit,’ May, 62, said after the end of The Grand Tour.
He echoed his thoughts in another interview, saying that although there was a need for a new motoring show, it would not be up to him and his former co-stars as they’re ‘too old’.
Clarkson meanwhile said their show together came to an end because they were ‘unfit and fat and old’, and the physical demands of the programme had become too taxing.
The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host said: ‘I’ve driven cars higher than anyone else and further north than anyone else.
‘We’ve done everything you can do with a car.
‘When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
