Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who was suspended on March 10 for punching producer Oisin Tymon, is said to be keen on hosting a farming documentary series – with plenty of Top Gear-style antics, The Australian reported.
Clarkson, who owns a 405-hectare farm in Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom, is believed to have already discussed the project with Andy Wilman, executive producer of Top Gear and a close friend.
In 2012, Clarkson told the Radio Times: 'I love the idea of being a farmer, that's why I like watching Adam's Farm [on Countryfile]. But farming land is complex. It's a business, but it's important to me that the land looks beautiful, too."
Clarkson was caught on video at a charity event last week where he went on an expletive-filled rant against the BBC, in which he said he expected to be sacked.
In his Sunday Times column on March 22, Clarkson referred to the incident, saying it was "all meant in jest and anyway it worked. I woke the room up and the auction prize I was offering – one last lap of the Top Gear test track – raised £100,000".
The last three episodes of the current season of Top Gear were pulled after co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond refused to film without Clarkson. The motoring show is a global hit, with more than 350 million viewers in 214 countries, and earns about £50 million (Dh270m) in revenue each year for the broadcaster's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.
On March 20, a petition to #BringBackClarkson was delivered to the BBC by a tank and a Stig-lookalike. It was signed by one million people.
But the presenter, who thanked his fans on Twitter for the support, said protesting against his suspension is futile.
Writing in The Sun, he said: "Protest never works. Because we are all plankton. And the world is run by whales. Oh, you can be a big and important plankton but that doesn't make a jot of difference if a whale has decided to eat you up. You can get a million other plankton to dress up and wave banners but Mr Whale won't even notice."
Clarkson and Tymon, who suffered a split lip in the dust-up, have given their version of the “fracas” to the BBC.
Lord Hall, the BBC’s director-general, is expected to make a decision this week.
artslife@thenational.ae
