Overview
- Wilman recounts a meeting where BBC executives proposed replacing Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond or James May with a younger Black or Asian presenter to reflect growing minority viewership.
- He writes that he rejected the idea as patronising to those audiences, and the presenting trio stayed together until Clarkson’s contract was not renewed in 2015 after an altercation with a producer.
- Coverage notes Top Gear’s peak reach of roughly 350 million viewers worldwide during the era in question.
- New excerpts also feature Wilman’s broader criticism of BBC management over diversity debates, investigations into the show, and what he characterises as attempts to split the trio after 2015.
- Following Clarkson’s departure, the trio moved to Amazon’s The Grand Tour from 2016 to September 2024, while the BBC later suspended Top Gear after Freddie Flintoff’s 2022 crash and said in 2024 it would not return for the foreseeable future.