The Grand Tour

Jeremy Clarkson Talks to BBC about the Top Gear Problems

In an interview with the BBC, Jeremy Clarkson was again asked about his upcoming show The Grand Tour, why he continues to work when he could easily retire, and, of course, what all went wrong on Top Gear that led to the end of the show as we once knew it.

Clarkson stressed that it was the lack of support from the higher ups in the BBC that had a lot to do with the show ending and especially with his time on the show coming to a close.

As Clarkson put it:

“I was having a tricky year, and I was quite stressy.” 

“It was really hard. It was getting harder and harder to do that show because it was getting bigger and bigger all the time.The problems were getting bigger and bigger, the lack of support was appalling, home life was very difficult, they were very stressy times.”

He was asked by the interviewer if the Jeremy Clarkson we know now would have reacted the same way, referring to the fracas incident, as he did then, but Clarkson starkly refused to answer the question. It is obvious that despite the end of Top Gear, in its previous incarnation, Clarkson doesn’t sport any ill will towards the BBC, or at least not enough to publicly make negative comments about them.

Jeremy goes on to instead compare the BBC and their reaction to new episodes to that of the folks at Amazon in Los Angeles:

“When you send Amazon a film, their television people in Los Angeles, they ring up and squeak with joy. What you never get at the BBC is that, ever.”

“…if somebody [the BBC] were to say that was a great thing that you’ve just done particularly if they wrote it in an email, and then it turned out to be controversial and The Daily Mail went berserk, they’d be on record as having liked it, and then what would happen.” 

“this is a terrible culture”

Jeremy is clearly happy to now be working with Amazon and still working in general, and it would appear he hopes to be doing this for some time, and that should come as good news to us all.

 

Nick Dunlap

Nick is a lifelong automotive enthusiast, as well as journalist, and content creator. Nick also successful competes in a variety of automotive fields including national level car shows, autocross, SCCA races, and more. He enjoys designing and building a variety of cars and helping others do the same with theirs.

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