Decision to axe Clarkson was a tragedy, says Top Gear producer

Andy Wilman, who has just quit the long-running series in the wake of Clarkson’s departure, has written an article for the latest issue of Top Gear magazine, telling the story of how the motor show came to be developed in its current form by the outspoken presenter.

Wilman revealed that around 2001, the then controller of BBC2, Jane Root, had decided to axe Top Gear, so Clarkson arranged to meet him to discuss his ideas to revive the show.

He wrote: “And as I sit here now in April 2015, in a completely empty office, I think that faraway lunch absolutely encapsulates the tragedy of what the BBC has lost in getting rid of Jeremy.

“It hasn’t just lost a man who can hold viewers’ attention in front of a camera, it’s lost a journalist who could use the discipline of print training to focus on what mattered and what didn’t; it’s lost an editorial genius who could look at an existing structure and then smash it up and reshape it in a blaze of light-bulb moments.”

Wilman said that while searching for presenters, the BBC were “adamant a woman should be in the line-up” to increase the number of women watching the show.

The producer said that he and Clarkson “auditioned lots of excellent girls who were more than up to the job of presenting a car show, but Jeremy and I had already started to realise that bloke banter was going to become an important part of the show.”