Former Top Gear producer Andy Wilman has revealed that Richard Hammond’s harrowing crash served as a stark “real wake-up call” regarding the show’s safety measures.
Dishing the dirt at the Royal Television Society (RTS) London Conference, Wilman, who helmed the iconic BBC motoring series from 2002 to 2015, confessed that smash-ups had become all too common, declaring it was high time to put the brakes on the show.
The mastermind behind Clarkson’s Farm admitted his crew always ran risk assessments but expressed frustration over what he perceives as an overzealous “culture of accident prevention” rather than focusing on “mitigation”.
READ MORE: Richard Hammond has emotional keepsake from near fatal 288mph crash nailed to his wall
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He explained: “We have actually done all the risk assessments, what we get annoyed at is if there’s a culture of accident prevention, and we’re like, no, it’s mitigation. You know, when one of them eventually crashes, have we got everything in place? If not, shall we not do something in case they crash? That was a point of difference for us.”
(Image: PA Media)
“Done it too much now, so it’s one of those reasons that it’s time to end.”
Reflecting on the aftermath of Hammond’s first major accident, Wilman recounted the chilling moment: “Richard’s first big crash was a real wake-up call because I remember driving up and thinking, f*** me, it’s a TV show and I rang the hospital, and they went he’s in intensive care, and we don’t know if he’s going to make it.”
He added, with a sense of relief, “You’re like, we’ve done everything so you’re not thinking about who’s to blame or anything like that because everything was in place.”
“But you just think he’s got a wife and two children, what are we doing? That fear was for him and the helplessness, obviously, because they won’t tell you anymore, on the part they don’t give you any detail.”
“And you start (thinking) in traffic and you’re like panicking, and you’re thinking, what’s the point of what we do? What is the point? “.
“We did have a good chat afterwards, me and Jeremy, like, God should we be bothered with this? “.
(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
Hammond experienced a jet-powered dragster crash while filming near York in 2006.
The host spent five weeks in hospital following the accident, including two weeks in a coma.
He revealed that during his time on Top Gear, he and the crew aimed to make their office “a bit horrible” to deter “left alone from execs”.
Wilman stated: “I think we used to make the place a bit horrible because I wanted to be left alone from execs.”
“We didn’t want notes, we didn’t want anything like that, so we made it like a sort of Chernobyl with people that should have been in it, and then we were like, ok, nobody will come here, and then we can get on with our stuff.”
“Luckily, it was good stuff.”
He also discussed his professional relationship with Jeremy Clarkson, revealing a “synergy” since their school days.
The Grand Tour producer explained that their partnership had led to an “organic development” across the shows they’ve collaborated on.
Wilman dished the dirt, revealing: “I went to school with him, but we didn’t plan any of this when we were at school.”
“But the working together that we have done, we do have a synergy, I think some of that did come from school, there’s no denying that.”
“Because one of the threads that has shot through our stuff is there has been an organic development of each show.”
His revelations follow a harrowing event after TV ace and ex-England cricket legend Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, 46, was seriously injured during a Top Gear filming stunt gone wrong at Dunsfold Aerodrome in December 2022. Consequently, telly bosses at Auntie put Top Gear on pause for the “foreseeable future”.
In the aftermath of Flintoff’s crash, a thorough health and safety production probe was ordered. The independent review acknowledged that “while BBC Studios had complied with the required BBC policies and industry best practice in making the show, there were important learnings which would need to be rigorously applied to future Top Gear UK productions”.