Top Gear: 5 of BBC series’ most controversial moments as Freddie Flintoff ‘to leave show’

Since the revamped Top Gear returned to our screens in 2002, the motoring series has found itself at the centre of many public controversies.

On Friday (24 March), the BBC announced that filming had come to an end early on the latest series following an acccident involving presenter Freddie Flintoff.

In December, the former cricketer was taken to hospital after being involved in an accident while shooting for the hit motoring show at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey. You can read everything we know about the accident here.

A statement from BBC Studios said it had “concluded its investigation into the accident at the Top Gear Test Track in Surrey last December, which regrettably injured presenter Freddie Flintoff.

“Under the circumstances, we feel it would be inappropriate to resume making series 34 of Top Gear at this time,” they said. “It is the right thing to do, and we’ll make a judgment about how best to continue later this year.”

Reports have claimed that Flintoff will now leave the show.

This is not the first time the show has found itself at the centre of controversy.

From offensive remarks by its presenters to accidents occurring during filming, the long-running motoring programme has often found itself in the headlines.

Falklands controversy (2014)

While filming a two-part special in Argentina in 2014, Top Gear became the subject of local protests. This was due to a Porsche driven by Clarkson which bore the number plate H982 FKL, which protesters believed was a reference to the Falklands conflict of 1982. The plate had been chosen at random by the manufacturers and was changed as the team neared the city of Ushuaia. However, protests continued and the team were forced to leave, with footage showing their car being damaged by stones and two crew members being injured.

Richard Hammond crash (2006)

Hammond was filming Top Gear at a former airbase near York in 2006, when he was nearly killed in an accident. Hammond had been driving a jet-powered dragster called Vampire and travelling at a speed of 319 miles per hour. After the front-right tyre failed, the car flipped over, damaging Hammond’s eye. After being cut out of the vehicle with hydraulic shears, Hammond was taken to hospital, where he was in a coma for two weeks and later suffered from post-traumatic amnesia and a five-second memory. The footage was aired when Top Gear returned in 2007.

Jeremy Clarkson racism controversies (2014)

In 2014, Clarkson found himself at the centre of two racism controversies in quick succession. In May, unaired footage was released by The Mirror, which the publication claimed showed Clarkson using the N-word while reciting a nursery rhyme during filming – something he vehemently denied. A couple of months later in July, Top Gear was ruled to have breached broadcasting rules over a racist term used by Clarkson to describe an Asian man during filming in Thailand.

These weren’t the only times Clarkson’s offensive comments on Top Gear caused the BBC trouble, either. In 2008, the BBC apologised after the presenter branded Mexican people “lazy” and joked about lorry drivers murdering sex workers. Then, in 2012, Clarkson was found to have breached BBC guidelines over a segment in which he compared an unusually shaped car to people with facial disfigurements.

Freddie Flintoff car bungee (2020)

One of Flintoff’s most dangerous challenges on the show took place in early 2020, when the former cricketer took part in a car bungee jump into a 500-foot dam. Flintoff was left hanging 500 feet above the ground in a Rover attached to a bungee cord, afterwards showing co-host Chris Harris that he’d been left with deep red marks across his body from the straps used to hold him in place. Harris also said at the time that, due to lengthy safety checks, Flintoff had been made to wait for 45 minutes before doing the jump and had become “quite agitated”. “It started out by me just taking the mickey… and then actually as it dawned on me that it was potentially life-threatening I became a bit more concerned for him,” Harris said.

Clarkson’s “fracas” (2015)

After multiple controversies, Clarkson’s time on Top Gear came to an end in 2015 when he was suspended from the show following a “fracas” with a producer. After Clarkson had been able to get his desired dinner during filming, the presenter punched the producer and reportedly called him a “lazy Irish c***”. The producer was later treated in hospital and the BBC soon announced that they would not be renewing Clarkson’s contract, thus ending Top Gear as it was.