The other shoe has dropped, and the BBC has confirmed that Top Gear Host Jeremy Clarkson has been, to use the British term, sacked. Formally it was announced that Clarkson’s contract “will not be renewed,” but the effect is the same: The individual most closely associated with the world’s most popular car guy television program has been shown the door.
In case you have been blissfully ignorant of the recent goings-on, Clarkson has been terminated as the result of an internal BBC investigation into a physical altercation with one of the series’ producers in early March, a scuffle that led to the iconic British TV network placing Clarkson under suspension.
It has been reported that producer Oisin Tymon required medical treatment following the incident, which consisted of both a physical attack (Clarkson apparently punched Tymon, resulting in swelling and bleeding to Tymon’s lip) and a verbal attack (Clarkson reportedly went on what BBC director general Tony Hall said was a “sustained and prolonged verbal abuse of an extreme nature.”).
The BBC has stated that it will seek to continue Top Gear in some form, but it is unlikely that the show will retain any semblance of the popularity it enjoyed with the droll and prickly Clarkson as its face.
Clarkson has long been a lightning rod for controversy, be it on-air verbal slights, accusations of racism, or prior fisticuffs –famously, he punched Piers Morgan with sufficient force to suffer a broken finger and give Morgan a permanent scar – but in show biz controversy sells. The BBC decision indicates that the network has reached the end of its patience with Clarkson’s behavior. To the extent that this is true, and to the extent that the BBC may wish to try to re-make Top Gear, remains to be seen.
Interestingly, Top Gear co-host James May (Clarkson, May, and Richard Hammond are the show’s three hosts, although Clarkson is clearly the alpha dog) has already been quoted as saying that the three hosts “are a team,” so it seems apparent that the Top Gear we know will not be continuing.
Some images selected from BBC News