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Top Gear will not be seen for the “foreseeable future” on TV, the BBC has said.
The show has been off air since host Andrew Flintoff picked up “life-alteringly significant” injuries following a crash, which led to a £9M ($11.2M) payout for the cricketing legend and a Health and Safety review.
In the past few minutes, the BBC has put out a statement saying it has “decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future,” citing “exceptional circumstances.”
It said it remains committed to Flintoff and his co-hosts Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, “and we’re excited about new projects being developed with each of them,” with “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,” said the statement. “All other Top Gear activity remains unaffected by this hiatus including international formats, digital, magazines and licensing.”
Flintoff has only recently started being seen in public since the crash – with noticeable injuries on his face – which took place last year and led to filming being immediately halted.
The BBC had apologized to Flintoff in March over his injuries, around the time a safety review concluded. The safety review will not be published but BBC Studios has said “important learnings” will be taken from it and there were a number of recommendations.
The news confirms what many had already thought would be the case but is a big blow for one of the BBC’s most established formats. Top Gear had been experiencing something of a renaissance under Flintoff, Harris and McGuinness following a tricky couple of seasons when ratings had dipped.
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