Jeremy Clarkson did not have to be sacked from Top Gear says James May
The pair worked alongside Richard Hammond on Top Gear for over ten years before BBC chose to sack Mr Clarkson in 2015 after he punched producer Oisin Tymon.
Speaking to The Telegraph this week, the TV star has given his thoughts on the incident ten years on and how it should have been handled.
“I thought it was very unfortunate and I don’t actually think our Top Gear had to end because of it,” said Mr May.
James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond. (Image: Prime Video / PA)
“I think it could have been patched up and put down to a bit of high stress and flightiness, to be honest. It happened.
“It’s regrettable and it’s unfortunate, but it didn’t need to lead to the collapse of something very successful.
“Maybe these things are ordained and it was time for us to move on. We had been doing it by then for a decade, I think, more. And I never imagined it would last as long.
“I went into it from magazine journalism and I thought it would be a good laugh probably for a couple of years.”
Mr May believes that it was no shock that such an incident happened given the conditions that Top Gear was created in.
“I mean, without being big-headed about it, we were Top Gear and we were one of the biggest TV shows in the world at the time,” he added.
“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.
“We’re all blokes and we worked quite hard and quite long hours and it was exciting but it was quite difficult.”