James May has said that the former Top Gear presenters expect to be “scrutinised ruthlessly” when they reunite following the axing of Jeremy Clarkson from the hit BBC2 motoring show.
The trio are set to make their first public appearance together as hosts of Clarkson, Hammond and May Live! – which was known as Top Gear Live but had to be rebranded following the end of their contracts for the show – in Belfast on 22 May.
May attempted to dampen speculation that he, Clarkson and Richard Hammond have a plan for a new TV series – with US on-demand service Netflix the frontrunner to land them – saying that the “honest truth” is that the future of the trio is unknown.
“The three of us may be reunited on screen, we may go our separate ways, or we may disappear from television altogether,” he said in his motoring column in the Sunday Times.
May and Hammond have ruled out working on the new-look Top Gear without Clarkson’s involvement.
Earlier this month Clarkson used his column in the Sunday Times to let it be known he was ready to put together a new venture: “I have lost my baby but I shall create another. I don’t know who the other parent will be or what the baby will be like.”
In his column on Sunday May said that with Top Gear fans feeling “betrayed” and critics “rejoicing” at the trio’s demise, whatever the former presenters do next they are likely to be criticised.
“Whatever we do, it will be scrutinised ruthlessly,” he said. “Our fans feel betrayed and believe a spell has been broken. Our foes are rejoicing at the banality of our demise. If there’s a hint of mediocrity in any future endeavour, both parties will feel vindicated. Even if Top Gear is revived in a new format with new hosts and isn’t as successful as it once was, that’ll be our fault. And if it’s better, then we were overdue for retirement anyway.”
May said that he is finding the situation of not being able to avoid criticism “quite difficult to handle”.
“Humility is the key, I think, to coming out of this well,” he said.
May has also revealed that he had a draft version of a new Top Gear contract “sitting on my desk” as the Clarkson incident blew up, and that the plan was to leave the hit show following a last three year stint.
“There we were, all three of us, on the brink of a new three-year contract to make Top Gear, after which we would definitely chuck it in with dignity and hand the reins to a new generation,” he said. “There were a few details to resolve about time frames and other mundane stuff, but the groaning draft version of this document was actually sitting on my desk”.
The Clarkson, Hammond and May live arena tour, run as a joint venture by the separate BBC Worldwide commercial arm and Brand Events, has a schedule of live arena events including Sheffield, Norway and Johannesburg, South Africa in June, Australia in July and ending at London’s O2 in November.
