WITH stunning supercars and a roster of A-list celebrity guests like Tom Cruise, Top Gear was once the biggest show on British television.
But now the programme has been axed “for the foreseeable future” by the BBC in the wake of presenter Freddie Flintoff suffering a near-fatal high-speed crash last December.
Production was paused when the former England cricketer, 45, had an accident at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold, Aerodrome, in Surrey.
Freddie, whose family said he was “lucky to be alive”, had to be taken to hospital by air ambulance after suffering serious facial injuries that left extensive scarring.
The sportsman avoided the public spotlight after the crash until September this year and was reportedly paid out £9million by the BBC, who also apologised.
Top Gear, which was even called the “greatest show on TV” by critics, has now been shelved over 20 years since it launched in 2002.
The decision follows an internal health and safety investigation, which the BBC has not published. A previous report warned that “there were important learnings” for the show.
Now we look back at the major issues that have afflicted Top Gear over the years including terrifying accidents, in-show fighting and damning ratings dip.
Flintoff’s terrifying crash wasn’t the first near-fatal incident on the show.
Back in 2006, Richard Hammond spent weeks in a medically-induced coma after suffering a serious head injury when his dragster span off the runway at 288mph.
Thankfully, the presenter – nicknamed Hamster – made a full recovery after five weeks in hospital but revealed he had no memory of the collision.
Richard told the MailOnline: “In the early days… I was having terrible trouble containing and controlling emotions, which is part of the damage done to my brain’s frontal lobe.”
While he returned to the show in 2007, Richard later revealed he has suffered memory loss – which is believed to have been caused by the crash.
Jeremy Clarkson suffered a number of injuries too including two slipped discs in his back and a broken thumb after crashing his Volvo 760 GLE into a wall.
He also sustained a painful injury after driving a Renault Magnum truck into a brick wall during one challenge.
Jeremy said at the time: “My ankle burst where the clutch pedal went through the wall. And my head was dislodged from my spine due to the impact.”
In 2007, the star also miraculously walked away unharmed after a near-miss when he lost control and rolled his car.
More accidents followed – in 2019, Freddie crashed a three-wheeled car at 124mph.
In a clip from the terrifying scene, the star could be heard yelling: “I can’t stop” as his vehicle raced hurtled at high speed before the crash.
Luckily, Freddie was helped to his feet and declared “absolutely fine” by on-site paramedics.
In 2020, Paddy McGuinness had a close scrape when he crashed a £250,000 Lamborghini Diable in the Yorkshire Dales – later it was revealed the vehicle had initially failed its MOT and was not fit to drive.
After Freddie’s most recent crash, Richard issued a clear warning about his concern that there could be a risk of future incidents.
He said: “Television makers have to be aware that you’re not in some special bubble just because you’re making a TV show, and things can and do go wrong.”
Off the race track, Top Gear has weathered a fair amount of public controversies.
In 2011, while under Jeremy, Richard and James May, there was a complaint by the Mexican ambassador which led the BBC to apologise.
It followed Mexicans being branded “lazy”, “feckless” and “flatulant”.
That same year, Jeremy offended the Indian High Commissioner in london when he fitted a car toilet to his car while travelling through India.
He remarked that it was “perfect” for the country “because everyone who comes here gets the trots”.
In 2014, a car was driven through Argentina with license plates that referenced the Falklands conflict for a Christmas special.
The trio made a 1,400 mile trip in a Porsche with the number plate H982 FKL. The car was pelted with stones by furious locals crowd and the stars were forced to flee.
In 2015, Jeremy was sacked after fronting the show for over 27 years.
His departure came as a result of an altercation with another member of staff. Rather than carry, Richard Hammond and James May decided to leave.
In 2016, under the new roster of presenters, Matt LeBlanc and rally driver Ken Block caused major offence after being filmed doing ‘donuts’ near to the Cenotaph.
Co-star Chris Evans apologised “unreservedly” for the stunt, which he acknowledged was “gravely disrespectful”.
At its peak, Top Gear recorded 350 million viewers a week worldwide and even landed a Guinness World Record for the most-watched ‘factual’ TV programme.
Morethan 8.4 million viewers turned in to watch an episode of the show that featured Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton back in 2007.
It was so popular that even A-listers including Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Dame Helen Mirren and Rowan Atkins all made appearances.
And it made the BBC a fortune, with reports they raked in £150million from licensing it all over the world.
But since the departure of Jeremy, Richard and James ratings dropped dramatically.
The decline followed the show being taken over by Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc, Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz and Eddie Jordan in 2016.
The first episode recorded 4.4million viewers, which was more than one million lower than the last episode under Jeremy and the gang.
The new helm’s ratings continued to drop to 2.8 million for the second episode and 2.4million for the third and by the end of the first season Chris stepped down.
At the time he said it was “the single best thing” that he could do to “help the cause” and Friends star Matt took over for another two seasons.
However, the ratings continued to fall with an overnight average of 1.9million viewers for his first series – by the end of the second he left the show too.
In 2019, Top Gear was taken over by Paddy McGuinness, Chris Harris and Freddie Flintoff, who managed to slightly improve overnight audience figures to 2.5million.
The last season attracted an average audience of 4.5 million – but hasn’t always appeased fans.
Now the BBC has put the brakes on Top Gear and the corporation said they “will have more to say in the near future” about the show’s future.
In a statement, they said they “remain committed to Freddie, Chris and Paddy who have been at the heart of the show’s renaissance since 2019, and we’re excited about new projects being developed with each of them.
“We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do.”
