Report: James May officially quits Top Gear, Executive Producer Andy Wilman also steps down

As if you thought the dust had settled surrounding the conflict with Top Gear UK, the BBC, and hose Jeremy Clarkson, you thought wrong as the ripple effect continues.

According to a new report from The Guardian, co-host James May officially announced his position, or former position, by declaring the end of his Top Gear career.

“Me and Hammond with a surrogate Jeremy is a non-starter, it just wouldn’t work,” stated May in a quick interview, “That would be lame, or ‘awks’ as young people say.”

So there you have it–James May officially hammered one of the final nails into the casket that houses Top Gear UK as we’ve known it for the past decade and more.

This comes after BBC Controller, Kim Shillinglaw, confirmed that unaired Top Gear footage from Season 22 will eventually be aired before the end of the year. How it will be executed is still up for determination.

In a similar breath however, another report flew in from The Guardian, confirming the resignation of the other pivotal arm of Top Gear UK’s former team, executive producer Andy Wilman. Wilman though wasn’t without his own commentary on the matter, calling the BBC’s decision to fire Clarkson a “tragedy.”

“[The BBC] hasn’t just lost a man who can hold viewers’ attention in front of a camera, it’s lost a journalist who could use the discipline of print training to focus on what mattered and what didn’t,” said Wilman, “it’s lost an editorial genius who could look at an existing structure and then smash it up and reshape it in a blaze of light bulb moments.”

Though Wilman too hasn’t missed out on his fair share of criticism either, saying that the BBC has always pressured him to making significant changes, such as hiring a female co-host.

“The BBC grown-ups were adamant a woman should be in the line-up.

“Now, I’m a big, big fan of the Beeb, but, my God, do they stretch your patience when they start ‘applying their marketing logic,’ or to use another word, meddling. Their theory behind a female presenter was that if you want women to watch something, you need women presenting it,” remarked Wilman. “The problem was that most of the grown-ups in the BBC management didn’t care about the car world, and basically there’s this weird logic whereby the less their interest is in the subject, the greater their compulsion becomes to meddle.”

Regardless, both Wilman and May hinted at rumors suggesting the trio, along with Wilman himself, could return to the BBC with a new program with May pointing out that Clarkson was not technically fired.

For the full reports, head on over to The Guardian and The Telegraph for the full beans.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: The Guardian and The Telegraph