Top Gear producer slams BBC 'witch hunt' before show cancellation

Top Gear's co-creator has opened up about what he termed a "witch hunt" while he was working on the massively popular BBC show. Andy Wilman, who served as series producer on the iconic motoring show, weighed in on an internal investigation into what one publication described as its "work culture and practices".

Andy also faced a "dressing down" from the BBC's Editorial Policy department, the Sun reports after fury erupted over the alleged use of a slur during filming in Thailand. Hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond , Top Gear's first iteration came to an end in 2015 (the show would later be rebooted), and the original presenting trio moved to Amazon Prime for a new motoring show, The Grand Tour. In extracts from his new book, Mr Wilman’s Motoring Adventure, as reported by the Sun, Andy wrote:"As good as we were at walking the line, sometimes entitlement creeps in, you get giddy and you plain just f* up."

Andy, who later described the investigation as "a f***ing joke", said: "What we had going here, in my opinion, was a witch hunt."

Despite the report clearing the show, it was decided that an executive producer would have to attend Top Gear's edit. Andy said this was for the purposes of "making sure we didn't play silly buggers with the content".

It would be a show that, at its most popular, drew in a staggering audience of 350 million viewers, but would be put on a reported hiatus after host Freddie Flintoff was involved in a horror crash during filming in 2022.

Clarkson, May and Hammond's Amazon offering also ended last year, but Clarkson remained at Amazon for his show, Clarkson's Farm, a hugely popular series that sees the relative farming newcomer attempt to run a 1,000-acre farm in the Cotswolds.

In other news, Clarkson recently left his followers baffled with a post in which he revealed that Clarkson's Farm's production had been halted, but the agricultural work would continue.

Taking to X, he said: "Filming at Diddly Squat has stopped for a little while, but the farming goes on. Today, I have rented out a pig for sexual purposes."

His followers then shared their responses to the comment, with one saying: "How does one move from cars to pig pimpery? It doesn't seem a natural transition."

Another said: "Thank you, Jeremy. That will be all. We're trying to enjoy our Sunday bacon and eggs here."

Clarkson's post came to light just hours after Clarkson expressed a desire to place marksmen in trees to target "people who drop litter". In the Sunday Times, he wrote there would be "no reading of the rights".

Indeed, he noted that he was "not a believer" in the death penalty, but he would "make an exception" for those who "can't be bothered" to find a bin.

He added:"Seriously, I would have snipers in trees and on top of bus shelters, and there'd be no trials, no arrest, no reading of the rights."

The BBC has been approached for a comment on Mr Wilman's comments.