James May says Top Gear is now outdated but defends it as just ‘painfully honest’

James May has said his erstwhile amusement Top Gear was ‘very overmuch of its time’, and suggested that a alteration to the format would beryllium needed to bring the motoring bid backmost to TV.

The BBC ‘rested’ Top Gear for the foreseeable aboriginal after Freddie Flintoff was injured successful a clang on the trial way astatine Dunsfold Aerodrome successful Surrey during filming successful December 2022.

May, who presented Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond earlier the trio near to big Prime Video’s The Grand Tour, has present said helium thinks the long-running motoring amusement is improbable to support to the aforesaid format erstwhile it returns.

The 61-year-old told The Telegraph: ‘Top Gear was precise overmuch of its time. Social attitudes towards the car person changed rather a bit. These days, it’s go much political.’

May besides said Top Gear was not ‘sexist oregon misogynistic’, successful defence of disapproval from erstwhile the trio hosted the programme.

‘It was conscionable painfully honest,’ helium added.

‘It was a presumption of the world, distorted done the eyes of radical who were unreasonably acrophobic astir cars.’

May besides claimed the trio, who signed disconnected with the last occurrence of The Grand Tour past month, ‘were rather metrosexual’ during their clip connected Top Gear, and said Clarkson’s relation was to marque arguable comments.

The bid received disapproval from the Mexican ambassador, the Indian precocious commissioner successful London, and Argentine officials during the trio’s tenure.

May said: ‘I didn’t wince astir Clarkson being arguable due to the fact that it’s his occupation to beryllium an arse and helium is precise bully astatine it.

‘I’d wince astatine him not misunderstanding immoderate basal rule of aerodynamics. I’d think, “how tin you not cognize that?”‘

The rubric of his adjacent show, James May And The Dull Men’s Club, connected Quest, comes from however antheral hobbies and roles tin beryllium viewed by society, May said, adding: ‘It’s a spot farty to accidental this, but what utilized to beryllium considered the attributes of basal manliness are being mocked.’

He besides said it is astir men uncovering solutions to mundane method issues successful his workshop.

‘The thought of being thorough, oregon being capable to marque things oregon usage tools: it’s each considered a spot “dad”, a spot dull.

‘So successful the amusement we decided to headbutt it by being absorbing astir being dull portion acknowledging that everyone thinks the things we bash are dull.’

This comes aft May said he thinks the clip is close for a marque caller motoring show to instrumentality the spot of Top Gear and The Grand Tour, due to the fact that the trio are ‘too old’.

He did nevertheless connection immoderate anticipation astir the trio reuniting connected different project, elsewhere saying: ‘I wouldn’t regularisation it out, but you bash person to carnivore successful caput that we’re each getting connected a bit.’

Meanwhile Clarkson, 64, claimed helium was excessively ‘unfit and abdominous and old’ for filming immoderate parts of The Grand Tour anymore, adding: ‘I’ve driven cars higher than anyone other and further northbound than anyone else.

‘We’ve done everything you tin bash with a car. When we had meetings astir what to bash next, radical conscionable threw their arms successful the air.’

Flintoff, who hosted Top Gear with Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris earlier accumulation was paused, has made a dependable instrumentality to the nationalist oculus since his accident, and was precocious seen successful the four-part BBC TV bid Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour.

He admitted it had been ‘a batch harder than I thought’ to shingle disconnected the crash, and said helium had struggled with anxiety, nightmares, and flashbacks.

The Grand Tour: One for the Road is disposable to ticker connected Prime Video.

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