James May, 62, sets record straight on true feelings over Top Gear axe as he blasts BBC over Clarkson sacking
James May has claimed the BBC’s decision to sack Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear in 2015 was unnecessary and could have been handled differently.
The former Top Gear presenter believes the incident that led to Clarkson’s departure after a “fracas” with a producer could have been resolved without ending one of television’s most successful shows.
Speaking to The Times this weekend, May suggested the altercation should have been viewed in the context of the high-pressure environment they worked in.
The comments come nearly a decade after Clarkson was dismissed from the BBC motoring show following an incident at a Yorkshire hotel.
“I don’t actually think our Top Gear had to end because of it,” May told The Times. “I think it could have been patched up and put down to a bit of high stress and flightiness, to be honest.”
May emphasised that while the incident was “regrettable and unfortunate,” it shouldn’t have led to “the collapse of something very successful.”
The presenter pointed out the intense nature of their work environment. “We were Top Gear and we were one of the biggest TV shows in the world at the time,” he said.
“It was quite an intense environment and it’s not entirely surprising that it occasionally went off the rails. If we’d been AC/DC or Thin Lizzy, nobody would have been the slightest bit surprised.”
The incident occurred at the Simonstone Hall Hotel in North Yorkshire, where Clarkson and the Top Gear team had been filming.
After a long day of filming, Clarkson returned to find only soup and a cold meat platter available, as the hotel’s chef had gone home.
The presenter launched into what witnesses described as a verbal tirade using “every bad word you could think of” when told he couldn’t have the steak he wanted.
The altercation culminated in what the BBC described as “an unprovoked physical and verbal attack” on producer Oisin Tymon, during which Tymon was struck, resulting in swelling and bleeding to his lip.
The BBC’s then-director general Tony Hall announced the decision to end Clarkson’s contract 16 days after the incident.
May recently reflected on his relationship with Clarkson, telling The Times: “We’re not natural friends. That’s actually why it worked.”
“I saw Jeremy recently. He seemed all right. We just seem older,” May added.
He explained that their different personalities were key to Top Gear’s success: “I often looked back at Top Gear and The Grand Tour and thought in many ways I didn’t really belong on it. But that’s exactly why I was on it.”
May noted that while they had disagreements, it never became truly hostile: “We used to squabble but, no, we weren’t Fleetwood Mac. We didn’t get that bad. We didn’t end up absolutely loathing each other.”
Following their BBC departure, May, Clarkson and Hammond were quickly signed by Amazon Prime Video to create The Grand Tour, which ran for eight years.
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May recently revealed his time with Amazon has now ended, telling The Times that the streaming service’s priorities had shifted.
“At one point, Amazon told me they wanted to do either really big stuff like their James Bond series or Lord of the Rings, or very small things,” he explained.
May has since moved to Channel 5, which he describes as “a nice home.”
The trio’s final Grand Tour special is set to air in 2024, marking the end of their nearly two-decade collaboration in motoring television.