The BBC will “rest” hit motoring present Top Gear “for the foreseeable future”, following a crash that left host Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff critically injured.
Production of the present has been halted since Flintoff, 45, was taken to hospital in December 2022.
In an announcement, the BBC stated: “Given the exceptional circumstances, the BBC has decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future.
“The BBC stays dedicated to Freddie, Chris and Paddy who’ve been on the coronary heart of the present’s renaissance since 2019, and we’re enthusiastic about new initiatives being developed with every of them.
“We will have more to say in the near future on this. We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do.”
“All other Top Gear activity remains unaffected by this hiatus including international formats, digital, magazines and licensing.”
Former England cricket captain Flintoff was photographed in public in September for the primary time for the reason that crash. Nine months on, his facial accidents have been nonetheless seen as he joined the England cricket squad for his or her one-day worldwide collection towards New Zealand.
The accident occurred on the Top Gear take a look at observe at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, and left the sports activities star with a number of damaged ribs.
Following the crash, the BBC introduced it could pause manufacturing on the present, co-presented by Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness and automotive journalist Chris Harris, because it was felt it could be “inappropriate” to proceed at the moment.
In October, the BBC stated it had agreed a monetary settlement Flintoff, reported to be value £9m.
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A well being and security manufacturing assessment of Top Gear overlaying earlier seasons earlier than the accident discovered that “while BBC Studios had complied with the required BBC policies and industry best practice in making the show, there were important learnings which would need to be rigorously applied to future Top Gear UK productions”.
The report included “a number of recommendations to improve approaches to safety”.
A separate investigation into the crash concluded in March. These findings will not be being printed.
Previous Top Gear crashes
The accident was not the primary confronted by Flintoff throughout his time on the present. It adopted a minor incident In February 2019, when he crashed right into a market stall in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
And in 2006, former presenter Richard Hammond was filming for the present when he crashed a jet-powered dragster referred to as Vampire at practically 320mph.
The presenter spent two weeks in a coma following the incident, which occurred on the former RAF Elvington airbase close to York.
He recovered and returned to the present in early 2007, however revealed in February this 12 months that he fears he has reminiscence loss consequently.
Flintoff and McGuinness joined Harris in 2019, taking up from Chris Evans and Friends star Matt LeBlanc.
The present was initially launched in 1977, that includes a spread of presenters and reporters in a half-hourly slot on BBC Two which proved fashionable all through the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties.
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But its relaunch in 2002 as an hour-long leisure motoring present, led by Jeremy Clarkson, Hammond and James May, turned it right into a worldwide hit.
The UK present is presently offered to extra 150 territories and there are 11 native format variations, together with within the US, France and Finland.
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Source: information.sky.com”