BBC shouldn't have dropped Jeremy Clarkson over Top Gear incident, says James May

He said: "I don’t actually think our Top Gear had to end because of it. I think it could have been patched up and put down to a bit of high stress and flightiness, to be honest.

"It happened. It’s regrettable and it’s unfortunate, but it didn’t need to lead to the collapse of something very successful...

"I mean, without being big-headed about it, we were Top Gear and we were one of the biggest TV shows in the world at the time.

"It was quite an intense environment and it’s not entirely surprising that it occasionally went off the rails. If we’d been AC/DC or Thin Lizzy, nobody would have been the slightest bit surprised."

Back in 2015, Top Gear came to a sudden halt when the BBC elected not to renew Clarkson's contract for a "fracas" with producer Oisin Tymon, said to have occurred due to the lack of availability of hot food after a day's filming.

At the time, an internal investigation was launched by the BBC which was led by Ken MacQuarrie, the then-director of BBC Scotland.

The report found that Tymon took himself to A&E for examination after he was subjected to an "unprovoked physical and verbal attack".

It said: "During the physical attack Oisin Tymon was struck, resulting in swelling and bleeding to his lip."

MacQuarrie noted in the report that the incident lasted "around 30 seconds and was halted by the intervention of a witness", adding that "the verbal abuse was sustained over a longer period" and "contained the strongest expletives and threats to sack" Tymon.

Read more:

• Jeremy Clarkson says Top Gear wouldn't get made now with "3 middle-aged, middle-class men"
• 'Top Gear wasn't sexist, it was just painfully honest,' says James May

At the time, the BBC's director of television, Danny Cohen, suspended Clarkson from the show, but the decision was not popular with some fans, who called for Clarkson to be reinstated at the time.

Clarkson apologised for his actions, saying: "I would like to say sorry, once again, to Oisin Tymon for the incident and its regrettable aftermath.

"I want to reiterate that none of this was in any way his fault. I would also like to make it clear that the abuse he has suffered since the incident is unwarranted and I am sorry too that he has had to go through that.

"I am pleased that this matter is now resolved. Oisin was always a creatively exciting part of Top Gear and I wish him every success with his future projects."

After Clarkson was removed from the show, Richard Hammond and May quit the series. Of course, the presenting trio have gone on to have success with another car show, The Grand Tour, which came to an end last year.

While the Prime Video series proved very popular among viewers, May did previously admit that the decision to end The Grand Tour was done because it simply couldn't go on forever.

May told Yahoo UK last year that while it was a "sad" moment, the trio chose to end the show so as not to "destroy it".

He said: "It's sort of sad, and I know people are sad that it's over, but it couldn't go on forever, and we're all getting on a bit.

"And we exhausted the idea fairly thoroughly, I think, so it's like we quietly put it to one side rather than destroy it."

James May's Great Explorers begins at 9pm on Thursday 13th February on Channel 5.

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