Jeremy Clarkson still pleading for Top Gear return after Freddie Flintoff crash

Metro

26-04-2025

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.
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The Clarkson's Farm host, 65, presented Top Gear from 2002 until 2015 alongside May, 62, and Richard Hammond, 55, before they moved over to The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime.
Their time on Top Gear had come to an end after Clarkson was sacked by the BBC for an 'unprovoked physical and verbal attack' on a Top Gear 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'.
Now that The Grand Tour has also come to its end, Clarkson is claiming a show like Top Gear is 'needed now more than ever'.
He said: 'It would be sad if it never came back, that would be very sad.
'There's room for a car programme at the moment because cars are changing so fast and electrical cars are coming along and nobody really understands what's a good one and what isn't.'
Speaking to The Times, the Clarkson's Farm star went on to say that Top Gear was 'necessary' in the 50s because 'car companies were trying new things… and you needed people to steer you through the complexity'.
'Then by and large it was unnecessary for the last 40 years and now it's necessary again because [when] I look at a kilowatt per hour car, I have no idea what that means,' he continued.
'I need someone like Chris Goffey or Frank Page from the old Top Gear to come along with a sensible jumper, and William Woollard, and tell me 'this is a good one, that isn't a good one'.'
However, Clarkson firmly ruled out his return if the show did come back, saying: 'I just don't understand or like electrical cars, so I wouldn't be interested in doing it.'
His co-star Hammond agreed with Clarkson's thoughts on the need for Top Gear, adding: 'It's becoming a more important subject because it's tied up with all of our futures. As consumers, the choices we make around automotives are of greater significance than ever before, we need to understand them.'
Following the end of their time on Top Gear and The Grand Tour, Clarkson, May and Hammond have said plenty about not returning to screens together.
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2003: 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'. More Trending
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.
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'When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.'
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