Top Gear’s Untold Secret: Why the Show’s Return Is Off the Table After Flintoff’s Crash
Is it possible for a TV show to revolutionize the way we see cars, then just vanish with a screech and a puff of exhaust? I’ve always thought Top Gear was simply too big to fail—an irrepressible stunt car, careening through pop culture on three, sometimes two, wheels. Yet here we are, pondering its fate after that jaw-dropping Freddie Flintoff crash, an incident that’s left more than just an empty BBC soundstage behind. Reading Andy Wilman’s perspective, you can’t help but feel the lingering sting—like finding out your favorite roller coaster is closed… forever. After decades of tire smoke and banter, is it possible the world’s most iconic motoring show may really never return? Grab your metaphorical seatbelt, it’s going to be an unexpectedly bumpy ride. LEARN MORE
The creator of Top Gear has spoken out about why the show will ‘never’ come back after the Freddie Flintoff crash.
Top Gear has been off of TV since Flintoff was involved in the horror crash which he recently spoke about in an interview with Piers Morgan.
The show dates all the way back to 1977, where it was a more serious motoring-focused TV series.
Amongst the many names to present the show, Andy Wilman and Jeremy Clarkson both joined in the tail end of the BBC series and would later co-create a brand-new format for the show after its cancellation.
While Wilman was no longer a presenter but an executive producer, Clarkson has often referred to Wilman as the secret fourth member of the Top Gear team alongside Richard Hammond and James May.
Wilman and Clarkson (BBC)
Wilman left the show in 2015 following the incident in which Clarkson punched a producer and would follow the trio to The Grand Tour and later help create Clarkson’s Farm.
Top Gear would carry on, eventually finding its groove again in the form of Freddie Flintoff, comedian Paddy McGuinness, and motoring journalist Chris Harris.
After Flintoff’s horror crash which led to serious injuries, however, the show was put on an indefinite hiatus, one which Wilman thinks it will never return from.
Speaking exclusively to LADbible following the release of his new book Mr Wilman’s Motoring Adventure, the show’s creator spoke about the difference between Flintoff’s crash and the two major crashes which Richard Hammond went through.
He said: “Richard’s crash was definitely like of an era and it was massively dramatic.
“It was like something out of a movie… but the mood around it is ‘he survived, he lives, he’s going to come in back’. It’s pretty upbeat. It’s very like ‘he’s coming back’.
Richard Hammond was involved in two major crashes, one of which left him in a coma (BBC)
“I think come the moment when Freddie’s crash [happened], how is it different? It’s a horrible crash. You know, the facial injuries for the poor man… and it lingers, he’s out of action. He’s out of the public eye. He’s off work.”
He acknowledged that Richard’s crash was horrible and he had serious injuries, but said: “Freddie’s is like, lingeringly horrible. It’s depressing and it’s a s**tty crash, a three-wheeler turning over on a rock, kind of semi-destroying his face.”
He went on to add: “It knocks the stuffing out of the show and if it knocks the stuffing out of the show, which is now just another BBC show, it’ll knock the stuffing out of the show full stop.
Wilman believes that the Flintoff crash is the end of Top Gear (BBC)
“Because I don’t think there’s anybody in the BBC who goes, right, we’ve got to fight for Top Gear to come back.”
When asked directly whether he thought the show would ever come back he said: “I don’t think it will.
“Because unless somebody has a will, they could. But somebody’s got to be like we were, which is ‘I want to take this thing by the scruff of the neck.’
“I don’t think there’s anybody sitting in programme planning going, ‘How do we get Top Gear back on air?’ Nobody’s doing that.”
Wilman spoke as part of his promotion for the Top Gear creator’s new book Mr Wilman’s Motoring Adventure, which can be purchased here, and includes Wilman’s perspective on the start of Top Gear, Clarkson’s controversial punch that ended the show, as well as The Grand Tour.
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