Jeremy Clarkson claims BBC refused to leave him alone after mother's death

"I said, ‘My mother’s just died. Please leave me alone.’ But they wouldn’t," says Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson (Getty)

Jeremy Clarkson has claimed the BBC refused to leave him alone and hounded him in the weeks after his mother died.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Times, the former Top Gear presenter described his fractious relationship with the corporation after his mother passed away from breast cancer. At the time, an investigation had been launched into his use of the word 'slope' to describe an Asian man crossing a bridge during an episode of the motoring show. The BBC issued an apology over the incident.

“I said, ‘My mother’s just died. Please leave me alone.’ But they wouldn’t. And it was bad. We were doing the TV show and the live shows, and three newspaper columns a week and endless investigations into whether or not we’d said this or done that or whether or not my hair was straight or my teeth were cleaned. It went on and on and on. It was very tricky. So there was quite a lot of pressure that year even for a jovial soul like me to handle. I was very close to my mum.“

“In one year I lost my mother, my house, my job,“ he went on.

He reportedly had to leave the table where they were sitting after becoming upset as he described missing his mother.

But after becoming emotional, he then returned to the table and reportedly told journalist Charlotte Edwardes: “By the way, all the time I was talking about my mother, I could see your knickers.”

The interview also shed some light on Clarkson’s turbulent relationship with Danny Cohen, the former director of television at the BBC.

“Danny and I were, and I suspect will remain for ever, very far apart on every single thing,” he said. “Normally, you could find some common ground with somebody, but I think Danny and I could probably only get on perfectly well so long as we absolutely never had to think about each other for the rest of the time.

The BBC said it would not be commenting.