Apparently Andy Wilman emailed the Top Gear staff the other day to thank them for the last 13 years. The BBC and Wilman both deny the email should be interpreted as a confirmation of Wilman leaving the show, but I have to say it’s very hard to read it differently.
I’m sure most of you know that Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson was sacked after a “fracas” with a producer.
I think it’s sad that the BBC chose a resolution that punishes pretty much anyone who likes the show. Clarkson, I suspect, will simply move on to somewhere else while enjoying a larger paycheck, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Andy Wilman (Top Gear producer), James May and Richard Hammond joined him to create a new show.
The old Top Gear, however, will have to reinvent itself, with new presenters and angry fans less likely to keep on watching. I’m pretty sure that the fantastic 350 million viewers worldwide every week figure will soon be a thing of the past and the BBC will have to get that particular piece of their weekly budget from somewhere else. Mainly, I suspect, from the viewers.