BBC2 controller Kim Shillinglaw has refused to rule out a return for James May and Richard Hammond to Top Gear, despite both presenters appearing to cut ties with the show after Jeremy Clarkson’s axing.
Shillinglaw said conversations were on-going with both May and Hammond over a “whole variety of projects at the BBC” and promised Top Gear fans that we “really care about your baby”.
Controller of BBC2 since last year, Shillinglaw said she had always got on extremely well with the programme team, including its presenters and executive producer Andy Wilman, who followed his long-time friend and colleague Clarkson out of the BBC last week.
Asked about the new Top Gear line-up on Radio 4’s Media Show on Wednesday, Shillinglaw said: “Conversations are on-going with James and Richard about a whole variety of projects at the BBC. While those conversations are on-going, they have to remain private.”
Pressed about a possible return to the show for Hammond and May, Shillinglaw said: “This is a really creatively exciting moment, it’s a really good time to look at the show and all aspects of it. When I know more I would be delighted to tell you about it.”
She added: “I think what viewers of Top Gear really care about and what I care about is getting a really exciting show. That is a process that will take a little bit of time because my God we really care about this show, I really care about this show.
“Rest assured any viewers of Top Gear out there, we care about our baby, we care about your baby, we will be determined to bring it back in a really exciting way.”
May last week appeared to rule himself out of a Top Gear return without Clarkson, saying it would be “lame” to do it with a “surrogate Jeremy”.
“Me and Hammond with a surrogate Jeremy is a non-starter, it just wouldn’t work,” he said. “It has to be the three of us. You can’t just put a surrogate Jeremy in and expect it to carry on. It would be forced. I don’t believe they would be stupid enough to try that.”
Hammond appeared to join him the following day when he said on Twitter: “To be clear amidst all this talk of us ‘quitting’ or not: there’s nothing for me to ‘quit’. Not about to quit my mates anyway.”
Top Gear is BBC2’s most popular show with more than 6 million viewers a week. It is also the BBC’s most valuable, a hit in more than 200 countries generating around £50m a year for the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.
Asked about reports that Clarkson felt like he was working for the “enemy” when he was at Top Gear, Shillinglaw said it was “not my experience of my relationship with any of the presenters or producers of Top Gear.
“When I joined BBC2, of course I met Jeremy and indeed the whole team, Andy Wilman, they know I was a genuine fan of the show, I personally always got on extremely well with them”.
Of Clarkson’s departure, Shillinglaw said: “I think what happened with Top Gear was serious, it was unfortunate, what I saw of the process by which it was handled I thought it was really appropriate and exemplary.”
