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Woke BBC bosses reportedly wanted to sack a Top Gear host after deeming the original line-up as ‘too white’.
The iconic car show was rebooted in 2002, with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond fronting the show.
A record-breaking 350million viewers tuned in to watch the legendary line-up when it was at its peak.
However, the show’s co-creator and producer Andy Wilman has now claimed there was a time when bosses at the BBC wanted one of the trio gone because they were three middle-aged white men.
In exclusive extracts from his new tell all book obtained by The Sun, Andy explains how he was summoned to a meeting where bosses told him that Top Gear was pulling in young black and Asian viewers.
He claims he was then asked by an executive: ‘So, how about replacing one of your line-up with a young . . . black or Asian presenter.’
Woke BBC bosses reportedly wanted to sack a Top Gear host after deeming the original line-up as ‘too white’ (Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May pictured in 2015)
The show’s co-creator and producer Andy Wilman has now claimed the BBC wanted to replace one of the threesome with a young black or Asian presenter (Jeremy and James in 2010)
Andy replied: ‘So hang on, you’ve got young black and Asian viewers who have chosen, seemingly quite happily, to watch three white, middle-class, middle-aged men doing what they do, and in response to that, we should now break that team up — the one they enjoy watching — and give them something they’re most likely not asking for?
‘Isn’t that sort of patronising to . . . young black and Asian viewers?’
His argument appeared to work and the threesome went on to host the show until 2015.
The Daily Mail have contacted representatives at the BBC for comment.
Jeremy left Top Gear and the BBC in 2015 after punching producer Oisin Tymon when he was told a hotel he was staying in while filming a segment was not providing a hot dinner after the kitchen was closed.
Richard and James followed him to Amazon, where the trio presented The Grand Tour from 2016 until September 2024.
The well-known trio were eventually replaced on Top Gear in 2019 by Paddy McGuinness, Chris Harris and Freddie Flintoff.
However production of the series was suspended in 2022 following a horrific crash that almost killed presenter Freddie Flintoff, with the BBC saying in 2024 that it would not return ‘for the foreseeable future.’
The trio left the show in 2015 and returned to TV screens a year later in Amazon Prime’s The Grand Tour (pictured)
The well-known trio were eventually replaced on Top Gear in 2019 by Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris
The broadcaster said at the time there would be ‘more to say in the near future’ – but no further announcement on Top Gear has ever come.
Back in April Jeremy admitted it would be ‘very sad’ if Top Gear never returned to TV screens.
He believes there is space for the show to return to TV screens, albeit in a more informational format – similar to the original series which ran from 1977 to 2001 and focused on car reviews and consumer advice.
‘It would be sad if it never came back, that would be very sad,’ he told The Times.
‘There’s room for a car programme at the moment because cars are changing so fast and electrical cars are coming along and nobody really understands what’s a good one and what isn’t.’
