LONDON (Reuters) - "Top Gear" host James May said Thursday he would not return to the top-rated motoring show without co-host Jeremy Clarkson, who was sacked by the BBC last month for attacking a colleague.

May, 52, who hosted "Top Gear" with Clarkson and Richard Hammond, told British newspaper The Guardian that it would be "lame" to return to the program with a "surrogate Jeremy."

"It has to be the three of us. You can't just put a surrogate Jeremy in and expect it to carry on. It would be forced. I don't believe they would be stupid enough to try that," he said.

Earlier in the day, the BBC said on its website that "Top Gear" producer Andy Wilman "has quit the BBC show in the wake of Jeremy Clarkson's departure".

It added that Wilman "was an old school friend of Clarkson, helped reinvent the show and oversaw its growth into a globally successful programme."

Wilman had previously denied he was leaving when a leaked email suggested he was, the BBC said.

Clarkson, an opinionated and outspoken media figure, was suspended by the BBC in March after he was involved in a "fracas" while on a shoot for the show, which is syndicated around the world and is one of the BBC's most successful and lucrative programmes.

Just over two weeks later, the BBC announced it had dropped Clarkson, saying he had been responsible for an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” that left a colleague bleeding and in need of hospital treatment.

A BBC investigation found that Clarkson had subjected Oisin Tymon to a 30-second physical attack following a sustained verbal tirade, after which Tymon sought medical help.

Clarkson, who had generated both controversy and profits for Britain's publicly funded broadcaster, had been on a final warning over accusations last year that he had used racist language while filming the show.

Last October the show sparked a diplomatic incident between Britain and Argentina, which went to war in 1982 over the Falkland Islands.

A Top Gear television crew was forced to flee Argentina after driving a Porsche 928 GT with the registration number H982 FKL, which some people suggested could refer to the Falklands conflict.

Source: Ask Reuters

That slow man? Abeg I will not miss him.

GAZZUZZ:
That slow man? Abeg I will not miss him.

The trio makes an amazing team.

Clarkson, Capt. Slow and Hamster.

lomomike:


The trio makes an amazing team.

Clarkson, Capt. Slow and Hamster.

That's just it. James May is a perfect foil for both Clarkson's and Hammond's jokes. It's sad that he won't be coming back though, not all good shows can be reinvented when a perfectly-cast performer leaves or is thrown out and May might be right to recognise that (c.f. Charlie Sheen's leaving Two and a Half Men). The fact does remain that Clarkson, like him or hate him, is the main person behind much of Top Gear's success and his leaving will affect the program a lot - for how long and to what extent remains to be seen. Clarkson is a typical Englishman in his xenophobic views and opinions, but I liked Top Gear for its value as light comedy and will miss it.

That is the cost of executives trying to be politically correct with the image of the BBC but that show was loved because of its crude nature a political jab is no good unless it's expensive. A bridge having a slope on it was a funny joke but Asians didn't like it.

I see Top Gear dying a natural death. what's Top Gear without Jeremy? i couldn't even bring my self to watch the USA and Australia editions cos they sucked real bad.

Well, on that bomb shell, i say bye bye to top gear and i wish the trio could float their own independent motoring show.

BBC no do well at all walahi.