Jeremy Clarkson is to join his fellow former Top Gear presenters James May and Richard Hammond for a new car show on Amazon Prime.
Clarkson was dropped from Top Gear last year after he punched a producer. May and Hammond stepped down from the hugely popular show shortly afterwards, leaving the BBC to continue with new hosts.
Here is what led to the shake-up of one of the BBC’s most lucrative shows.
October 1988: Jeremy Clarkson appears on Top Gear, but has not yet adopted his acerbic on-screen persona.
February 2000: Clarkson leaves Top Gear, having called the show “tedious” a year before.
October 2002: The programme is re-vamped, and Clarkson returns.
2003: The BBC is forced to apologise to a parish council after Clarkson rams pick-up truck into a horse chestnut tree.
November 2008: Over 1,000 viewers complain to the BBC after Clarkson jokes on air about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes.
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May pose with the award for Most Popular Factual Programme at the National Television Awards 2007 (Images: Getty)
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January 2011: Clarkson brands Mexican people “lazy”, “feckless” and “flatulent” in incident resulting BBC apologising to the Mexican ambassador.
December 2011: During a 90-minute set in Indian, Clarkson says special a car fitted with a toilet is ”perfect for India because everyone who comes here gets the trots“.
February 2012: Clarkson breaches BBC guidelines for comparing Japanese car to people with growths on their faces.
May 2014: The presenter sparks a race row by apparently mumbling the n-word while reciting a nursery rhyme on camera.
July 2014: Top Gear breaches broadcasting rules after Clarkson describes an Asian man as a ”slope“.
October 2014: Top Gear crew flees Argentina after presenters drive in Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL – which some regard as a reference to the Falklands war of 1982.
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4 March 2015: Clarkson assaults BBC producer Oisin Tymon following a day of filming in North Yorkshire, after reportedly hearing there was no hot food available.
9 March 2015: Clarkson admits to BBC that he was involved in the incident.
10 March 2015: The BBC suspends Clarkson and an investigation is launched, while all three remaining episodes of the series are postponed.
19 March 2015: Video footage shows Clarkson saying he wants to do ”one last ever lap“ of the Top Gear test track “before the f****** b******* sack me”, in reference to BBC executives.
20 March 2015: A petition signed by millions of viewers to reinstate Clarkson is delivered by tank to the BBC's headquarters.
25 March 2015: BBC director-general Tony Hall announces he will not be renewing Clarkson's contract, saying ”a line has been crossed” but praises Clarkson's “huge talent”. He also confirms Top Gear will return in 2016.
Chris Evans has secured the job to take over from Jeremy Clarkson on the BBC's Top Gear
16 June 2015: Chris Evans is revealed as the new host of Top Gear.
28 June 2015: Top Gear's finale with Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May fails to break records when it bows out with 5.8 million viewers.
30 July 2015: It is announced that Clarkson, Hammond and May have signed a deal for a new motoring show with Amazon.
Additional reporting by PA
