Richard Hammond speaks out on the way forward for ‘axed’ Top Gear

Richard Hammond insists Top Gear or an analogous present will return to screens after it was placed on hiatus following Freddie Flintoff’s horror crash.

Production of the hit motoring present has been halted since former England cricket captain Freddie, 46, was taken to hospital in December 2022 after he was injured in an accident on the Top Gear check observe at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.

Following the crash, the BBC introduced that it might pause manufacturing on the present, co-presented by Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness and automotive journalist Chris Harris, because it was felt it might be ‘inappropriate’, including there can be a well being and security evaluate.

Television presenter Richard, 54, who just lately accomplished filming of the penultimate sequence of Amazon’s The Grand Tour, insists there’ll nonetheless be a want for a motoring present with quick automobiles and stunts sooner or later.

When requested if he thought Top Gear can be off screens for good, he instructed the Radio Times: ‘I very a lot doubt it. Top Gear was on hiatus once we took it on so it’ll come again sooner or later, though in what form I don’t know. 

‘The resolution to purchase our subsequent automotive might be probably the most important contribution we are able to make as people to the longer term, so we have to be knowledgeable. Maybe that’s the route it may take? 

‘As for reveals like The Grand Tour, I don’t suppose the human want for journey is ever going to be sated. It’ll proceed in numerous types, modified to go well with its time.’

Richard hosted Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson, 63, and James May, 61, from 2002 to 2015.

Since 2016, the trio have offered The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime however it was reported in November final yr that filming on the present was set to finish, with the penultimate sequence, Sand Job, out there for streaming from Friday.

With Richard, Jeremy and James having labored collectively for almost 1 / 4 of a century, they’ve come to know one another fairly effectively.

Richard was simply 30 years previous when he began internet hosting Top Gear and they’ve been by means of loads collectively each of their skilled and personal lives.

In 2006 whereas filming a stunt for Top Gear, Richard was driving a Vampire jet automotive at 320mph when one of many tyres blew, inflicting it to spin uncontrolled and crash, flipping the other way up and leaving him in a coma.

The presenter was in a coma for 2 weeks and the incident left him with critical head accidents.

Richard recovered and returned to the present in early 2007 however revealed in February final yr that he fears he has reminiscence loss consequently.

On his sustaining shut friendships with Jeremy and James, Richard mentioned: ‘We know one another very effectively, and it’s not based on seeing each other in an workplace each day or within the pub at weekends. 

‘It’s seeing each other in unbelievable locations, grappling with sickness and harm.’

It comes after Richard revealed he, Jeremy and James may make a stunning profession transfer after quitting Prime Video’s The Grand Tour. 

The trio joined the streaming service in 2015 to proceed his motoring adventures following their time on Top Gear, however will now finish the present after 5 sequence. 

Richard mentioned that whereas nothing was set in stone they may presumably entrance a present comparable to Amanda Holden and Alan Carr‘s property make-over sequence the Italian job.

Asked if may see the automotive fans renovating a property overseas, he joked to The Sun: ‘That’s genuinely not a foul thought, I would make a remark of that and declare it as my very own.’ 

Richard went on to say how they have been too busy concentrating on The Grand Tour’s remaining sequence, which is anticipate to air later this yr, to consider the longer term.

Saying: ‘It’s like making a movie and the standard of manufacturing, you can not do this with out the numerous expert folks on board, and it is the identical ones who’ve been with us for 20 years’. 

‘So that is why — and I’m not defecting right here — any fascinated with the top and what comes subsequent remains to be a good distance off as we’re nonetheless making the sequence. It’s an extended job.’ 

It comes after Jeremy revealed the trio’s 20-year-long partnership would draw to a detailed after Jeremy revealed there was nothing else for them to do.

Telling The Times: ‘I’ve pushed automobiles greater than anybody else and additional north than anybody else. We’ve executed all the pieces you are able to do with a automotive. When we had conferences about what to do subsequent, folks simply threw their arms within the air.’

He additionally branded himself ‘unfit, fats and previous’ as one more reason that it was time for the ‘immensely bodily’ present to finish, following the hosts tenting on seashores and racing pace boats in pervious sequence. 

Jeremy brushed of any ideas of a feud together with his co-hosts saying: ‘We’ve spent extra time in one another’s firm than our households’ over the past 25 years.

‘So I do not suppose it might have lasted so long as it did if we might hated one another as a lot as James likes to suppose.’

Before revealing that their choices have been ‘being explored for a brand new incarnation’ of present, which may provide the trio a chance to reunite on display.

An insider instructed The Sun final yr that the ‘stunning’ resolution ‘very a lot marks the top of an period for the three presenters’, who’ve labored collectively since 2003.

They added that though the present is without doubt one of the streaming platform’s most watched reveals ‘the fellows have made no bones concerning the truth they’re all advancing in years and so they have a lot of different tasks to pursue’.

The supply instructed the publication that the broadcasters ‘felt just like the time was proper and needed to exit on a excessive when the present remained standard’.

Jeremy, Richard and James shot to superstardom after taking on BBC’s Top Gear, turning it from a distinct segment automotive programme into one of many company’s hottest properties and promoting spin-offs world wide.

Their time on the present wasn’t with out controversy.

Richard was almost killed when he was concerned in a 320mph crash whereas filming a stunt for the present, with the affect leaving him in a coma for 2 weeks and ‘Hamster’ himself admitting he fears getting early onset dementia consequently.

They dramatically left Top Gear programme in 2015 after Clarkson was sacked by the channel following a bust-up with producers, earlier than returning on The Grand Tour in 2016.

Late final yr their former bosses on the BBC introduced Top Gear, which turned the trio into superstars, was being axed within the aftermath of a horrific crash involving presenter Andrew Flintoff.

The present’s manufacturing has been halted since host Flintoff, 45, was taken to hospital in December 2022 after being badly harm in an accident on the Top Gear check observe at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.

Following the crash, the BBC introduced that it might pause manufacturing on the present, co-presented by Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness and automotive journalist Chris Harris, because it was felt it might be ‘inappropriate’, including there can be a well being and security evaluate.

McGuinness later thanked followers ‘for the love’ in a ‘goodbye’ message.

And after the BBC’s announcement to ‘relaxation’ the present for the foreseeable future, Paddy posted a gallery of pictures on Instagram beginning with an image of the trio in white Top Gear outfits.

He wrote the caption: ‘We have been at all times going to be b*****s however we have been your b******s.

‘Thanks for all of the love over time of us, it was very a lot appreciated.’