With a few days left until The Grand Tour hits the screens, Clarkson opens up with BBC News and sets things straight about the ordeal he went through.
Although it’s been well over a year since the motoring journalist got laid off from Top Gear, it wasn’t entirely clear what led to his outburst. As it turns out, it was a cocktail of many unfortunate difficulties coming from both sides.
“The problems were getting bigger and bigger, the lack of support was appalling, home life was difficult, they were very stressy times,” said Jeremy, also disclosing that he was having a stressful, tricky year.
When asked if the current Jeremy Clarkson would have handled things differently he refused to answer, but took the opportunity and described how happy May and Hammond made him feel:
“There were nine minutes from me leaving the BBC, to Richard and James saying ‘Actually we’ll come with you’. And they were the happiest nine minutes of my life.”
It’s evident that the Beeb’s stringent agenda and political correctness policy, got on his nerves, saying that things are much more different at Amazon:
“When you send Amazon a film, their television people in Los Angeles ring up and squeak with joy. What you never get at the BBC is that – ever.”
According to The Telegraph, Clarkson also criticized the new Top Gear, saying that the new team has underestimated the sheer amount of work that went into making the program:
“You look at the TV show, you read all the credits, you’ll see the cameraman, the sound recordist, you’ll see their names… You find me one where it says ‘written by’. They just cobble it together. Writing is everything.”
Just so you know, this is not the first time Clarkson went on record saying that writing is what makes a good TV show brilliant. So, producers and script writers, take note.