The BBC has quietly brought back newly restored clips of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May on a new YouTube channel that has left fans questioning whether the broadcaster is quietly admitting the show’s best days are behind it.
The Top Gear Classic channel was created in February and launched without fanfare earlier this month with a series of old Top Gear challenges freshly minted in high definition – with some very un-Clarkson-like health and safety messages attached.
A clip of the trio inhaling pure oxygen inside their ‘hovervan’ – a road-going Ford Transit converted into a hovercraft – is now accompanied by the message: ‘Please be aware that inhaling pure oxygen is potentially hazardous.’
Fans are speculating in the comments beneath each video whether the channel is a concession by the BBC that Top Gear’s glory days are truly over – as the future of the show remains in doubt following Freddie Flintoff’s horrifying accident in 2022.
Beeb bosses, however, say the channel is not a comment on the show’s future – and exists to ‘super-serve’ fans of the old show with newly restored clips at previously unseen quality.
Top Gear Classic describes itself as ‘the official home of Top Gear Classic on YouTube’, and promises to feature the best clips from your favourite episodes’.
It names Clarkson, Hammond, May and faceless test driver The Stig, and the promotional banner at the top of its homepage features the three presenters alongside a new Top Gear Classic logo.
Among the clips uploaded in newly restored HD are a motorhomes feature, a police chase in Albania in luxury cars and a challenge that saw Clarkson, Hammond and May creating their own police cars.
It is operated by BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial arm that handles producing TV shows for the BBC and other broadcasters, as well as BBC-related magazines and merchandise and the commercial UKTV channels.
This means the channel could be a lucrative cash-cow for the BBC, which will get a cut of the revenue generated by s displayed before the video plays.
Fans have praised the broadcaster for restoring the clips – while questioning its purpose, and what it could mean for the show’s future.
‘New Top Gear was so garbage that the BBC has had to create a separate channel for the real Top Gear,’ wrote one commenter, while another said: ‘Imagine having to create a whole new channel for the actual Top Gear.’
‘Making money from the already dead cow are we,’ wrote a third viewer.
A fourth called for Clarkson, Hammond and May to return to the show for one last hurrah, while another called the clips ‘the beginning of the end’ of the series.
Clarkson has raged against health and safety throughout his career on Top Gear, and as a columnist for the Sunday Times.
He wrote in one 2010 column: ‘This is the problem with health and safety people. They simply don’t understand that we have work to do and that there’s simply no time for their high-visibility, no-job’s-worth-dying-for nonsense.’
The timing of the channel’s launch coincides with the broadcast of a new series of Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams, in which the ex-cricketer’s grievous facial injuries following a Top Gear filming accident were revealed for the first time.
BBC bosses may also be looking to separate Clarkson, Hammond and May’s old presenting style – which was accused of encouraging ‘laddish’ culture as well as being xenophobic and homophobic – from the newer, ‘nicer’ versions of the show.
The show endured numerous controversies, including allegations of racial slurs and xenophobic remarks about countries including India, Romania and Mexico.
Hammond’s comments about a Mexican car, which he suggested would be a ‘lazy, feckless oaf with a moustache’, prompted direct condemnation from the country’s ambassador.
Clarkson left the show and the BBC in 2015 after punching producer Oisin Tymon when he was told a hotel he was staying in while filming a segment was not providing a hot dinner after the kitchen was closed.
Hammond and May followed him to Amazon, where the trio have presented The Grand Tour since 2016. The final episode of the show, which wound up its studio format in favour of elongated travelogues, will air later this year.
Clarkson appeared to make up with the BBC as the Grand Tour’s studio format came to an end.
The last episode to feature a live audience showed a highlights reel of the trio’s time presenting together – made up of clips from their time with Amazon and the public broadcaster.
He has since found a new calling as a farmer, with Amazon’s Clarkson’s Farm series getting rave reviews while his Diddly Squat agricultural empire expands with licensed products, Hawkstone beer and his new pub in the Cotswolds.
After the three left the BBC, they were replaced on Top Gear by a presenting team that included Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc, motoring journalist Chris Harris and TV presenter Rory Reid.
It was met with a stinging critical and audience reception: Evans left after one series while LeBlanc and Reid were later replaced by Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness.
McGuinness told The Guardian at the time of its relaunch: ‘I feel as though we’re bringing a different vibe to the show, which is a positive in my eyes, with families watching it.
‘Chris does his pure car reviews but there’s also funny bits… then there’s hugs and nice bits such as what we thought about Ethiopia.
‘I think that’s a good thing. It just happens because that’s how we are and that’s the way the world is now.’
The chemistry between the trio led to a renaissance for the show – one that was violently halted following Flintoff’s 2022 accident.
He had been driving an open-top Morgan Super 3 three-wheeled sports car when it overturned during filming. Flintoff suffered broken ribs and grievous facial injuries following the accident, and filming on the show was halted immediately.
Last November, after months of speculation, the BBC confirmed the show was entering an indefinite hiatus.
‘Given the exceptional circumstances, the BBC has decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future,’ the broadcaster said.
‘The BBC remains committed to Freddie, Chris and Paddy who have been at the heart of the show’s renaissance since 2019, and we’re excited about new projects being developed with each of them.
‘We will have more to say in the near future on this. We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do.’
Clips of Clarkson, Hammond and May were first uploaded to YouTube by the BBC on the main Top Gear channel in standard definition, before YouTube supported HD uploads and before HD television was the norm.
Since then, the channel has become more affiliated with the magazine published by the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and regularly features its writers talking about new developments in the car world.
It may be that BBC bosses want to keep the magazine’s largely cheery, inoffensive editorial stance separate from the older, more laddish presenting style associated with Clarkson, Hammond and May – while also topping up its commercial coffers.
A BBC spokesperson told : ‘The Top Gear Classic YouTube channel was created to super-serve fans of older TV moments with refreshed archive material on a dedicated channel.
‘The main Top Gear YouTube channel has consistently served non-TV show material in the main for a number of years with a strong pipeline of automotive content that’s produced by BBC Studios’ in-house Top Gear editorial team.
‘The Top Gear Classic YouTube channel isn’t time restrictive and will continue to showcase clips of Top Gear TV from across the archive and will be led by content that has delivered high viewership on YouTube in order to meet audience appetite.’