Top Gear (2002-2015) Phase II (2016-)

Saw that too. It's sort of padding itself along. I wouldn't be surprised if he returned. I wouldn't be surprised if he was gone. I'm not surprised is all.

I like how the others wouldn't go on without him though as apparently the Beeb offered them to carry on with Jezza suspended. Should know next week.

I read how he went round to apologise to the producer then turned himself in, as it were. But it was in the Mirror.

Stig's been round to the Beeb (in a tank, natch) to drop off the online campaign even though Clarkson doesn't expect it to result in him being reinstated, because 'protests never work'.

Not a huge fan of this side of him ... whatever else you could say about him, at least he's usually jollier than this.

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Oof, I didn't know that about the wine consumption.

I have no dog in this fight. I do know that at every place of employment that I have worked, a person who physically assaulted a colleague would have found it very difficult to keep his job.
Whether or not you deem this right or just is up to your own personal opinion.

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

a person who physically assaulted a colleague would have found it very difficult to keep his job.

Even if he was the creator - and until very recently -  the owner of your bestselling format, one that brings in anything between £75-100m a year?

Well then in that case, I guess the people working for him should at least be made aware of this reality.

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Hilly KCMG wrote:

Indeedy, and the report into the fracas (I recall the other day the Morecambe & Wise show where they joke about "can we say fracas on the TV?") is due next week.

I can't believe that Clarkson would ever be involved in a fracas. Hammond, maybe, but not Clarkson. He's always been the utter bedlam sort. "Fracas" is just too mild.

Let's face it, Clarkson probably had it coming. He's often enough coming across as an arse and I really don't like him. But this thing has more likely been brewing for years. Someone had him on the list and decided the next time he overstepped he was cooked.

I'm not going to see him as the victim though. It doesn't matter for me how much cash his show earns the BBC, some things are simply not acceptable. If you start going there there'd be a good case for allowing everything if just the money was right. Clarkson is just as much a professional as everybody else in the industry. He knows how to behave just as well as the next guy. When he wants to. A man who puts his position on the line just because he thinks he's above the rules has to expect being taken up for it. Clarkson won't starve. Neither will the beep. It's all a bit childish if you think of it.

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Indeedy, and the report into the fracas (I recall the other day the Morecambe & Wise show where they joke about "can we say fracas on the TV?") is due next week.

I can't believe that Clarkson would ever be involved in a fracas. Hammond, maybe, but not Clarkson. He's always been the utter bedlam sort. "Fracas" is just too mild.

He did punch Piers Morgan, twice.

I'd expect May to be a fracas sort. I reckon he could snap like a twig sooner or later.

I'm thinking the real deal breaker for Clarkson will be the revenge of the Peugeot drivers lobby, now a greater influence in the BBC than the Masons.

Hell hath no fury than Peugeot drivers scorned. Or truckers, or cyclicts, or Greens...

...Top Gear Live cancelled in Norway next week. Some speculate this is a sign JC is on his way out.

Don't let it end like this, Kirk

Rumour has it his sacking will be confirmed today.

And it has.

Justice has been done. Though some of the comments on the Beeb's article are fairly typical. The haters, naturally enough and those bemoaning the "liberal left BBC" and those tearing up their TV licences etc.
Netflix are apparently interested, Chris Evans is lined up (supposedly), I even heard Stephen Fry's name mentioned last week.

TG was lucky to last as long as it has but what a way for an era to close. Russell Crowe was asked about this on that intellectual rostrum that was the Ross show. Said he could understand after a long days work how the lack of hot food was poor but Jezza should've gone about it differently. Indeed.

Well, at least James May has Man Lab

Somehow I think he will do just fine, both professionally and personally.
The level of outrage at his sacking is a bit absurd. At least from my perspective.

What's even more insane is that a lot of cretins are no attacking the producer who was the victim of the assault, when it wasn't even him who reported it!

The petition said it all really I suppose.

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Erica Ambler wrote:

You're all talking shit.

What about when Deputy Prime Minster John Prescott punched a heckler a few years back? Did he lose his job? Of course not.

The only things more bewildering here are 'How did he end up with that job' and 'Why did anyone ever vote for this guy'

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Someone said that Tymon managed to drive 37 miles to an A&E with this swollen lip of his (which must've been exceptionally swollen, they also note) and yet managed to phone his lawyer as opposed to the Beeb.

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While I would agree there is little room for sympathy when someone resorts to physical violence, the role of producer is surely very much about keeping the talent creative and happy, to deliver the viewers the best possible return for their patronage.

These days the sad truth is that the BBC is more about indoctrinating its viewers than entertaining them. Their PC agenda is out of control and promoted with the self righteous conceit that veers worryingly close to the zeal of John Hurts character in 'V for Vendetta'.

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Top Gear's a highly entertaining show. Shame that Clarkson was fired. I like all three hosts individually, but there's something about their chemistry that makes the whole show work.

Also, looking back at a 60 Minutes segment from 2010, I wasn't aware of the fact that they caught hell from the BBC for driving across the Arctic while drinking gin and tonic. Not surprising. But, honestly, who the fuck wouldn't have done that? That episode still ranks as my favorite.