The BBC automotive show Top Gears is one of the most popular and beloved TV programs in the UK, but the show will be moving on without the services of its host, Jeremy Clarkson.
The BBC announced on Wednesday morning that it would not be renewing Clarkson's contract, following reports that Clarkson had gotten into a highly combative verbal and physical altercation with one of the show's producers. Clarkson is considered to be immensely talented, but he has a history of being irascible and hard to deal with on set.
Clarkson is currently suspended for his role in that incident, but today's decision is a step further. More than a million people signed an online petition requesting Clarkson be reinstated, but the BBC remained undeterred.
“We need distinctive and different voices but they cannot come at any price,” said BBC Director Tony Hall in a statement on the company's website. “Common to all at the BBC have to be standards of decency and respect. For me a line has been crossed. There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank, or public relations and commercial considerations.”
It will be a tough task for Top Gear to replace Clarkson as the face of the program. His presence since 2002 has helped grow Top Gear into one of the most popular shows on television worldwide.
Clarkson, ironically, seemed to almost foresee his exit last December.
“I like doing this job," he told The Guardian. "But if somebody decides one day actually said ‘you know what you really have gone too far or you really are awful’, then you go do something else.
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