No party without punch: James May rules out Top Gear return

The presenter said: “Me and Hammond with a surrogate Jeremy is a non-starter, it just wouldn’t work. That would be lame, or ‘awks’ as young people say.”

“It has to be the three of us. You can’t just put a surrogate Jeremy in and expect it to carry on. It would be forced. I don’t believe they would be stupid enough to try that.

“It doesn’t mean I won’t go back, we may all go back in the future. It might just be we have a break from it. I don’t know.”

According to MediaGuardian, May went on to say: “It would be a bloody tough call to do Top Gear without Jeremy, that would be a bit of a daft idea.”

“I don’t think you could carry on with two people and put someone in as the new Jeremy because they are not going to be the new Jeremy. That would be short sighted and I don’t think it would work. Virtually impossible.”

Clarkson was suspended and then later axed from the show after he attacked Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon at a Yorkshire Dales hotel, splitting his lip and verbally abusing him.

Clarkson’s contract was not renewed, with director-general Tony Hall saying “a line has been crossed” and 2there cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another”.

Earlier this week, BBC2 boss Kim Shillinglaw, who has been tasked with finding a replacement for Clarkson on the hit motoring show, said the presenter would return at some point.

She said: “Jeremy will be back on the BBC.

“It’s serious and unfortunate what happened but there is no ban on Jeremy being on the BBC. It’s a big deal what happened and Jeremy, as any human being would, needs some time.”

She also confirmed that scenes filmed before Clarkson was suspended for his attack on Tymon were likely to air this summer, saying: “No way would I want the available material not to be seen by viewers.”