From Top Gear to The Grand Tour: Clarkson, Hammond and May’s biggest ever controversies

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s TV journey together has come to an end, leaving behind a colourful legacy

After more than 20 years of working together on both Top Gear and The Grand Tour, the presenting relationship between Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May has come to an end.

This week, the final episode of the Amazon Prime series The Grand Tour – a road trip across Zimbabwe titled “One for the Road” – will mark the end of the show, which the trio started in 2016 after leaving the BBC.

Clarkson and Hammond started working together on the revamped version of Top Gear on the Beeb in 2002, with May joining a season later. The lineup wouldn’t change for another 22 seasons until Clarkson was sacked by the BBC for punching a producer.

Although the two shows that they are best known for attempt to focus on cars and travel, their habit of getting themselves into hot water for boorish behaviour, off-the-cuff remarks and ill-advised jokes has often generated more headlines than their motoring skills.

So as the trio complete their final adventure together, we’ve compiled some of their biggest controversies that have angered communities, politicians and entire nations.

2002: MP complains after Clarkson jokes that ‘no one wants to live’ in Wales

In just the second-ever episode, Clarkson joked that fast cars should be test-driven in Wales because “no one wants to live there”. The gag sparked backlash from the government as Labour MP Alun Pugh wrote to the BBC to say that Clarkson was spreading “nonsense”. The remarks reportedly left a bitter taste in the mouth of many Welsh people, with May telling the News of the World in 2011 that “we received quite a few threats on our lives”.

2005: Clarkson makes Nazi salute while reviewing BMW car

During a 2005 review of the German-made Mini, Clarkson made a “Heil Hitler” salute, suggested that the vehicle’s GPS system “only go to Poland” and that the fan belt would last for 1,000 years, a reference to the Third Reich.

In response, David Marsh, a UK businessman and a leading figure in the German-British Forum, wrote to the BBC director-general at the time, Mark Thompson, to complain about the remarks.

Marsh wrote: “As a British person with strong links to Germany, I take exception to this poisonous rubbish carried by a publicly funded broadcasting company. Such actions are out of place in our society.

“It is no excuse to say that people, often German, who complain about such programmes have no humour or do not understand the British people’s quirky characteristics.

“Modern Germany has come to terms with and made amends for, the crimes and aggressions of the Nazi period and the Second World War.

“It does no good for people such as Mr Clarkson to dredge up the past in crude stereotypical fashion masquerading as outrageous humour.

“Does Mr Clarkson consider the effect on Germans who were born after the war who may be watching the programme?”

2006: Richard Hammond crash

Hammond was filming Top Gear at a former airbase near York in 2006 when he was nearly killed in an accident.

He had been driving a jet-powered dragster called Vampire and travelling at a speed of 319 miles per hour. After the front-right tyre failed, the car flipped over, damaging Hammond’s eye. After being cut out of the vehicle with hydraulic shears, Hammond was taken to hospital, where he was in a coma for two weeks and later suffered from post-traumatic amnesia and a five-second memory. The footage was aired when Top Gear returned in 2007.

In a 2024 interview with The Sunday Times, Hammond reflected on how he thinks his frontal lobe brain injury has already started to affect his memory at 54. “It did have a knock-on effect. I’ve discussed it since with my family. I’m 54 and my memory’s getting shaky,” he said.

2007: Drink driving incident in the North Pole

After the 2007 “Top Gear: Polar Special”, the BBC Trust’s editorial standards committee criticised Clarkson and May for a scene that “could be seen to glamorise the misuse of alcohol” as the pair drank alcohol while driving to the Magnetic North Pole. Top Gear hit back by saying that neither presenter was “drunk or out of control of the vehicle”. The ESC concluded: “The scene of drinking while driving was not editorially justified in the context of a family show pre-watershed.”

2008: Sued by Elon Musk

Musk sued the BBC over its review of the Tesla Roadster after scenes, which aired in 2008, saw Clarkson claim the vehicle’s brakes failed, the engine overheated, the battery died after reaching 88m and that the car took more than half a day to charge.

However, Musk lost the case, with a UK appeal court throwing out his complaint that Clarkson’s review had damaged Tesla’s reputation in 2013. Executive producer Andy Wilman said in response to the rejection of Musk’s case: “I am pleased that the appeal court has upheld the previous ruling and the case has been struck out.”

2008: Clarkson jokes that lorry drivers have ‘murdered prostitutes’

After completing a lorry-driving task, Clarkson said: “This is a hard job and I’m not just saying that to win favour with lorry drivers, it’s a hard job.

“Change gear, change gear, change gear, check mirror, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder. That’s a lot of effort in a day.”

Ofcom received 339 complaints about comments made by Clarkson concerning lorry drivers, and complaints to the BBC topped 1,800 but it was later found that he did not breach the Broadcasting Code.

2009: Clarkson calls Gordon Brown a ‘silly c**t’

Clarkson was accused of calling then prime minister Gordon Brown a “silly c**t” during a warm-up session while recording Top Gear.

Years later, in February 2024, Clarkson appeared to suggest that the remark was true when he replied to a tweet about the incident, writing: “Well he had sold all our gold reserves at rock bottom prices. Seemed a bit silly to me.”

A few months before the alleged incident, in February 2009, Clarkson had already issued an apology for calling Brown a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”.

2010: BBC apologises for Jeremy Clarkson’s ‘special needs’ jibe

In October 2010, the BBC apologised after Clarkson described a car as “special needs”.

Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom investigated after the joke, made by Clarkson about a Ferrari owned by May, provoked complaints.

He said the F430 Speciale “looked like a simpleton” and should have been called “Speciale Needs” on the BBC2 show.

Comparing it to a newer model, he said the car “was a bit wrong – that smiling front end, it looked like a simpleton – should have been called the 430 Speciale Needs”.

Charities criticised the remark, with the National Autistic Society saying it perpetuated “the prejudice and bullying which people with disabilities have to cope with”.

The BBC removed the joke from the repeat and iPlayer versions of the show and apologised for any offence caused.

2011: Mexican ambassador angered by Top Gear ‘xenophobia’

In February 2011, The Mexican ambassador to Britain complained to the BBC over “offensive, xenophobic and humiliating” comments on Top Gear.

Eduardo Medina-Mora wrote to the BBC after the show’s presenters compared the characteristics of a Mexican sports car to those of the country’s citizens.

In a review of the Mastretta, Hammond said: “Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat.”

2011: George Michael calls Clarkson ‘pig ugly’ following ‘homophobic’ comments

The late singer, George Michael, lashed out at Clarkson after a homophobic joke about the Wham! star was made on Top Gear.

While reviewing the Jaguar XKR-S, Clarkson said: “It’s very fast and very, very loud. And then in the corners, it will get its tail out more readily than George Michael.”

This appeared to be in response to a jokey campaign that Michael had launched on his old X/Twitter account, trying to make Top Gear more camp.

In response to Clarkson's comments, Micahel retorted: “Good grief Mr Clarkson, I wasn't implying your towering heterosexuality was in question. I had no desire to insult you! But I do now, you pig-ugly homophobic t**t!!!!!”

(X/Twitter)

2012: Indian officials complain about jokes made about their country during Top Gear special

Indian diplomats complained to the BBC about a "disgusting" episode of Top Gear filmed in the country in 2012. The 90-minute India special showed Clarkson talking to locals while using a trouser press dressed in his boxer shorts, and included a car fitted with a toilet in the boot which he said was “perfect for India because everyone who comes here gets the trots”.

They also put banners on trains carrying the messages: “British IT is good for your company” and “Eat English muffins” which became obscene when the trains moved and the banners were torn.

Raja Sekhar from the Indian High Commission in London said a letter had been sent to the BBC to “convey our strong disappointment”. He said: “We were very actively helping out facilitating the visit but they ran down the whole society, culture and people. It's really disgusting. We have a very close relationship with and respect for the BBC. The BBC is probably more admired in India than in England so we feel a bit let down.”

2014: Falklands licence plate controversy

While filming a two-part special in Argentina in 2014, Top Gear became the subject of local protests. This was due to a Porsche driven by Clarkson that bore the number plate H982 FKL, which protesters believed was a reference to the Falklands conflict of 1982.

The plate had been chosen at random by the manufacturers and was changed as the team neared the city of Ushuaia. However, protests continued and the team were forced to leave, with footage showing their car being damaged by stones and two crew members being injured.

2015: Clarkson sacked after an argument about a steak

Clarkson’s tenure at the BBC came to an end after he was reportedly annoyed that he could not order hot food while he and fellow cast and crew members were filming at Simonstone Hall Hotel near Hawes, North Yorkshire.

According to The Sun and Mirror, the hotel’s chef had gone home by the time they arrived and the stars were offered cold meat and cheese platters- but Clarkson requested a £21.95 steak.

This chain of events is said to have led to Clarkson allegedly punching producer Oisin Tymon – during what the corporation officially described as a “fracas” – and called him a “lazy Irish c***”. Hammond and May both later left the BBC after they failed to sign a new contract following the incident, in solidarity with Clarkson.

2016: Hammond suggests that only gay men eat ice cream

During a 2016 episode of The Grand Tour filmed in Finland, Hammond sparked controversy by saying men who eat ice cream are gay. Speaking in front of a live audience, Clarkson pointed out that you “couldn’t enjoy a chocolate Magnum ice cream” in the interior of a Volvo with white leather seats.

“It’s alright, I don’t eat ice cream,” Hammond said. “It’s something to do with being straight.”

Clarkson and Hammond appeared slightly baffled while members of the audience cheered and applauded.

“Why are you applauding him?” Clarkson asked the crowd. “What do you mean... you’re saying all children are homosexual?”

“Ice cream is a bit... you know,” Hammond continued, saying: “There’s nothing wrong with it, but a grown man eating an ice cream – it’s that way, rather than that way.”

In a later interview with The Times, Hammond said: “Look, anyone who knows me knows I wasn’t being serious, that I’m not homophobic. Love is love, whatever the sex of the two people in love... It may be because I live in a hideously safe and contained middle-class world, where a person’s sexuality is not an issue.”

2019: Will Young threatens Ofcom complaint over ‘homophobic’ jokes

Singer Will Young once threatened to report The Grand Tour to Ofcom highlighting an instance on an episode that saw the presenters driving through Colombia. Referencing Clarkson’s Jeep, Hammond suggests the vehicle is for gay people and, later, it is shown with a pink roof. “Isn’t that a very popular car with the gay community?” Hammond asks, before suggesting Clarkson should update his outfit and grooming habits.

In response, Clarkson wrote in his column in The Sun that he and Young were friends, joking that the former Pop Idol performer made a short video for his 50th birthday.

“But this week, he went berserk on Twitter, saying that I’d been homophobic in the most recent episode of The Grand Tour,” Clarkson continued.

“Many gay people who’d seen the show said they couldn’t see a problem. None of my leftie friends could either. One even said I should tell him to stop being so gay. I won’t do that though. And nor will I suggest, once again, that mobile phones should be fitted with breathalysers to stop people drinking and tweeting.”

Concluding the column, entitled: “I’m sorry and I’ll prove it”, Clarkson wrote: “No. Instead, I will apologise to Will for causing him some upset and reassure him that I know I’m not homophobic as I very much enjoy watching lesbians on the internet.”

2023: Clarkson says he hates Meghan Markle on a ‘cellular level’

In 2023 Clarkson caused uproar after writing that he dreamt of the day when Markle would be “made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”. In his column for The Sun, he also said he hated Markle on a “cellular level”.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) found that the column was sexist. It marked the first time the press regulator has upheld a complaint about sexism.