{"id":2114468,"date":"2026-08-27T10:20:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2114468"},"modified":"2026-08-27T10:20:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T07:20:28","slug":"top-gear-to-return-after-andrew-flintoffs-crash-bbc-confirms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2114468","title":{"rendered":"Top Gear to return after Andrew Flintoff’s crash, BBC confirms"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/265f\/live\/62c2da00-a201-11f1-a97e-999c5aae08bf.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Speedy driver The Stig has always been a key part of the show<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Top Gear is to return to TV, the BBC has confirmed, four years after the show was “rested” when co-host Andrew Flintoff was injured in a crash during filming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The long-running motoring programme has been off air since 2022, when the former cricketer suffered serious facial and rib injuries when his open-topped three-wheeled car overturned at the show’s test track.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He was one of three presenters at the time along with Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The hosting line-up for the comeback has not yet been announced, although the Sun newspaper last week reported that comedian Jimmy Carr was in talks to join.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The BBC’s director of entertainment said Jimmy Carr “would be a great host but I won’t be discussing that today”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The BBC’s director of entertainment Ed Havard told the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday: “There has been a lot of speculation about this and we can confirm that Top Gear is coming back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I’m not going to talk about talent today.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Asked whether Jimmy Carr would be hosting, he replied: “Jimmy would be a great host but I won’t be discussing that today.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We will have more information on Top Gear shortly.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Former rugby player and Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler is also reportedly in the frame to host.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The show will be made by BBC Studios, which did not comment further.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Andrew Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris hosted the show before it was rested<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Top Gear began in 1977 and became one of the BBC’s biggest hits in the hands of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May in the 2000s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They were replaced by broadcaster Chris Evans and Friends star Matt LeBlanc, before Flintoff, McGuinness and Harris took over in 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The BBC apologised and paid compensation to Flintoff following his crash.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He has described being dragged face-down underneath the Morgan Super 3 car for about 50 metres. “I thought I was dead,” he told a Disney+ documentary last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Paul Rees, a racing driver and expert adviser who was in the car with Flintoff, has sued BBC Studios for up to \u00a3150,000 for personal injury. BBC Studios has said: “We dispute this claim and are defending it.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/clym7yrdk29o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/265f\/live\/62c2da00-a201-11f1-a97e-999c5aae08bf.jpg”] BBC Speedy driver The Stig has always been a key part of the show Top Gear is to return to TV, the BBC has confirmed, four years after the show was “rested” when co-host Andrew Flintoff was injured in a crash during filming. The long-running motoring programme has been off air since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2114468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2114468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2114468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2114468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2114468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}