Top Gear: James May says now could be the best time for car show reboot

Top Gear was a Yorkshire programme if ever there was one. Its three protagonists, Jeremy Clarkson, ex Radio York man Richard Hammond and James May, all spent some of their formative years in the county.

And controversially the programme crashed in 2015 when Clarkson was involved in a "fracas” with one of the producers at a hotel in North Yorkshire.

The famous three decided to move on and transferred their talents to The Grand Tour, which has now reached the end of the road.

So, what chance of a motoring comeback? May - who lived in Rotherham as a teenager and whose father was an enthusiastic reader of The Yorkshire Post - has said there has “never been a better time for a car show” after the pausing of Top Gear, as he hinted he is open to a new programme with Clarkson and Hammond.

The BBC has said the hit motoring series Top Gear will be off air for the “foreseeable future” following a crash that seriously injured host Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff.

Clarkson, Hammond and May have left Amazon Prime Video series The Grand Tour after a “final special” was made.

May said there is probably a "stronger case" for a motoring programme now than when Top Gear was at its peak.

May said: “I do think that despite us obviously coming to the end of our time doing this and the cancellation of Top Gear, there has never been a better time (for a car show).

“Things like the future of autonomous cars, new means of powering cars, a change of general attitudes towards cars and driving, there’s never been a better time for a car show. And the car show itself requires reinvention.”

Discussing the end of The Grand Tour, May said: “We have filmed the last one for now.

“I suppose that makes me technically unemployed. I can hear the cheers rolling around the country.

“We’ve got two in the bag, though. So there’s one coming up very soon. I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say here. And then another one coming out a bit after that. But what happens between now and then we’ll have to see.”

Asked if the trio could be reunited on another project, he said: “I can’t reveal that. Because the brutal truth is, I don’t know yet. But I do still speak to them.

“It depends what it was. Yes. No… I wouldn’t rule it out, but you do have to bear in mind that we’re all getting on a bit.

“And we have been doing it for 20 years plus, and I don’t think any of us ever thought it would last that long.”

Asked if it was part of the conversation to let others take over, he said: “It’s always been part of our conversation, how we landed with grace, rather than fly it into a cliff.”

May has previously said he believes Top Gear needs a “rethink” before it returns to the BBC.

Production on the show has been halted since host Flintoff, 45, was taken to hospital in December 2022.

The former England cricket captain was badly hurt in an accident at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.

Clarkson announced the end of The Grand Tour in November

In an Instagram post, Clarkson, who was born in Doncaster and cut his journalistic teeth in Rotherham, confirmed that the show was “no more” after this year.

The trio, who starred on Top Gear together for a decade, were snapped up by Amazon’s streaming service in 2015 and have made five series for the company, along with various special episodes.

May told The Yorkshire Post that while he owed a lot to motoring for giving him a high profile, he had enjoyed the other programmes which came his way as a result.

He presented science, engineering and consumer programmes covering subjects as diverse as wine and Lego.

“I have been very lucky to have a broad and varied career,” he said. “I don’t think I could have planned it any better. Not that I planned any of it really.”

He recreated the banked track at Booklands using Scalextric track and an attempt at the world's longest working model railway along the Tarka Trail between Barnstaple and Bideford in North Devon, although the attempt was foiled due to parts of the track being stolen and vandals placing coins on the track, causing a short circuit.

And with James May, Our Man In…. he created travel programmes with a difference taking in Italy, Japan and India.

And of screen, he owns a pub in Wiltshire and makes weekly trips from his home in central London to keep an eye on things.

But it seems motoring remains a passion. He drives a Tesla as a daily drive and has a Ferrari 458 Speciale as the highlight of his garage.

In an Instagram post, Clarkson confirmed that The Grand Tour was “no more” after this year.