James May insists Top Gear ‘didn’t need to end’ after punch scandal as he reveals whether he still speaks to Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond

James May has insisted that his exit from hit BBC series Top Gear was avoidable as he opened up about the show.

The presenter, alongside co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, had been the face of the series for over a decade since he joined in 2002.

However, after an on-set altercation between Jeremy and a producer, the trio exited the series and continued working together in 2015 on an Amazon Prime series The Grand Tour.

Now James has revealed that he believes the BBC could have dealt with Jeremy’s actions – in which he punched producer Oisin Tymon – differently. 

Following the incident, an investigation was launched and Jeremy was to exit the show with co-stars James and Richard refusing to sign new contracts with the BBC, causing the successful era of the show to end.

James has now confessed to The Sunday Times: ‘I thought it was very unfortunate and I don’t actually think our Top Gear had to end because of it. I think it could have been patched up and put down to a bit of high stress and flightiness, to be honest. 

‘It happened. It’s regrettable and it’s unfortunate, but it didn’t need to lead to the collapse of something very successful.’ 

James added that he believed the trios exit was down to people thinking it was ‘time of us to move on’.

Jeremy’s actions with Oisin were reportedly due to him returned to his hotel in North Yorkshire after a long day of filming and found there was no available hot food to order. 

James went on to reveal whether he is still in contact with his former co-star after Jeremy revealed he has banned James from his pub, the Farmer’s Dog in Oxfordshire.

James said he wasn’t interested in visiting the establishment anyways given it is based 80 miles from his home. 

However, the presenter did reveal he rang Jeremy up after his heart attack and the pair saw each other at a funeral not long ago.  

He said: ‘I did actually see him a few weeks ago, at a funeral, unfortunately, of someone we both knew. He seemed all right. We just seem older.’

The famous trio have now ended up in different places with Jeremy being the most successfully on Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm, Hammond on his car restoration show Richard Hammond’s Workshop and James in James May and the Dull Men, shown on Discovery+.  

After being leaving the BBC, bosses turned to Chris Evans to present the iconic series Top Gear. Matt Le Blanc, Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness have all featured as presenters post-Clarkson.

However, production the series was suspended in 2022 following a horrific crash that almost killed presenter Freddie Flintoff, with the BBC saying in 2024 that the series would not return ‘for the foreseeable future.’

It comes after James revealed that he’s now leaning more towards a career in the arts.

The star claimed that he wants to create artistic items, play musical instruments, and look at paintings.

Claiming that he’s up for anything that involves getting creative, James also hinted that he may ramp up his show James May and the Dull Men’s Club.

‘This is very much the first series I think, if they want some more of it we will ramp it up a bit, maybe, and spend a bit more time on some of these ideas and make them more thoroughly,’ he added.