Now that neo-Top Gear has officially announced its main host, all attention has shifted to the BBC. Meanwhile, the old presenting trio was apparently not standing around and they’re reportedly very close to announcing their new show.
We don’t know how long we need to wait exactly, but we will definitely be seeing the new show air before Top Gear is brought back to the BBC (which is sometime after March 2016).
According to The Sunday Times’ driving section, “Jeremy Clarkson has claimed that the BBC asked him to return to present Top Gear, just days before Chris Evans, the DJ and television presenter, was named as his successor.”
Clarkson reportedly declined saying that he couldn’t work on a show that was going to be “neutered.”
The BBC denies offering him a new contract, but he told The Sun “I had a meeting with a BBC executive last week and they asked if I’d come back to Top Gear. But it was never an option, even with one million people signing the Bring Back Clarkson petition – for which I was extremely humbled. Too much has gone on. After I’d been compared to Jimmy Savile by someone from the BBC and it was splashed all over a Sunday newspaper, how could I go back?”
He went on to comment that “the spotlight would have been on me and the show would end up being neutered.”
It’s worth mentioning that aside from Clarkson, the other two presenters will continue to collaborate with the BBC. May, for instance, will literally be building a car out of raw materials, live – the show will be called… yep, you guessed it, “Building Cars Live.” Could be a really good show this and it will be shot at the MINI plant in Oxford so we’re curious what that’s all about.
Below we attached new announced Top Gear presenter Chris Evans’ radio chat with Clarkson.