Top Gear Reboot Confirmed By BBC After Jimmy Carr And Joe Marler Rumours

The BBC has confirmed plans to reboot Top Gear after a prolonged absence.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday, the broadcaster’s director of entertainment Ed Havard responded to recent rumours suggesting Top Gear was being revived.

He said: “There has been a lot of speculation about this and we can confirm that Top Gear is coming back.”

After 20 years on our screens, with an array of different presenters at the helm, the BBC motoring series was “rested” in 2022, following a serious on-set crash involving one of its presenters, Andrew Flintoff.

The former cricketer – who co-hosted the series with Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris – said he suffered “life-alteringly significant” injuries in the accident, and was later reported to have received £9 million in compensation from the BBC for loss of earnings in the aftermath of the crash.

Last week, The Sun reported that controversial comedian and presenter Jimmy Carr was “in talks” to host the rebooted Top Gear, with former Celebrity Traitors star Joe Marler and model Jodie Kidd also among the names mentioned by The Guardian as supposedly being in consideration.

Havard refused to be drawn on this speculation, insisting he was “not going to talk about talent”, but did concede that “Jimmy would be a great host.

“I won’t be discussing that today,” he continued. “We will have more information on Top Gear shortly.”

Top Gear first premiered in the 1970s, but was brought back in the early 2000s with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May as its hosts.

After an infamous behind-the-scenes “fracas” with a producer led to Clarkson’s contract not being renewed, his co-hosts chose to leave the show with him, and they later launched a rival car show, The Grand Tour, on Amazon Prime.

Since their departure, a host of stars have fronted Top Gear, including Chris Evans, Friends star Matt LeBlanc and the late Sabine Schmitz.