Yahoo Autos ‘Top Gear’ Will Not Return for ‘Foreseeable Future’
The immensely popular automotive television show Top Gear will not be filming any new episodes anytime soon, per a statement released by the BBC.
The statement, reported in a BBC news story on Tuesday, says the corporation has "decided to rest the show.” The decision comes after presenter Freddie Flintoff was involved in a serious crash during filming last December.
With former hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May presenting, Top Gear became one of the most-watched television programs in the world. After that trio left the show in 2015, the BBC went through several host combinations before landing on Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris in 2019. Filming of the 34th series of the show was underway went Flintoff had his crash. There have been no new episodes since.
"We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do," the statement says. "All other Top Gear activity remains unaffected by this hiatus including international formats, digital, magazines and licensing."
The corporation stated that it remains committed to the three hosts and that new projects are being developed for each of them.
Flintoff recently reached a settlement with the BBC, reportedly for $11.2 million. The BBC also issued a formal apology to Flintoff back in March. An external investigation into the crash was conducted but the results have not been made public.
Fans of the show are no doubt disappointed by the news. The most recent series attracted an average audience of 4.5 million as the latest trio of hosts were restoring the show to its former glory. Now fans can only wait and see if the BBC will ever relaunch the show, or if this is truly the end of the road.
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