Top Gear redux? Jeremy Clarkson developing new car show

PHOTO BY JON LARGE

FORMER 'TOP GEAR' HOST REVEALS CANCER SCARE DAYS PRIOR TO 'FRACAS' WITH OISIN TYMON

   Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that he is working on a new car show, one which will air on one of the BBC's competitors. The former "Top Gear" U.K. host wrote in his column in The Sunday Times that his firing from the program had led to a period of boredom and sadness, describing the loss of his job at "Top Gear" as "a black hole at the center of my heart."

   Clarkson has not mentioned whether "Top Gear" co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond will be a part of the new project, though it's prudent to point out that the duo is still with the BBC.

   "I have lost my baby, but I shall create another," Clarkson wrote. "I don't know who the other parent will be or what the baby will be like, but I cannot sit around any more organizing my photograph albums."

   Clarkson also shed light on some personal events that immediately preceded the incident that the BBC infamously referred to as a "fracas," in which it was later revealed that Clarkson had punched BBC produced Oisin Tymon in a fit of anger. The week of the incident was preceded by the death of Clarkson's mother and the breakdown of his marriage, with the host learning just days before the incident itself that he might have cancer.

   "Two days before the 'fracas,' I'd been told, sternly, by my doctor that the lump on my tongue was probably cancer and that I must get it checked out immediately," Clarkson wrote. "But I couldn't do that. We were in the middle of a 'Top Gear' series. And 'Top Gear' always came first."

   Clarkson described the day of the incident, March 4, as the most stressful of his 27-year career at the BBC and that he is still in shock over the loss of his job at the show.

   "For more than 12 years, 'Top Gear' has been my life, completely," Clarkson wrote in The Sunday Times. "It was an all-consuming entity, a many-tentacled global monster that was dysfunctional and awkward and mad, but I loved it with a passion. I loved it like my own child. Which in many ways it was. But then, one day, I read in Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph that my contract wasn’t going to be renewed and that they were going to give my baby to someone else."

   "Top Gear" remains the property of the BBC, and the network is reportedly searching for potential replacements for the cast, with rumors emerging that several actors and presenters have been approached for the job. The Week reports that Jodie Kidd, Chris Evans, Johnny Vaughan, Steve Coogan, Guy Martin and Stephen Fry may be in consideration for a relaunch of the program with an all-new cast.

   Since this is a story concerning "Top Gear," death threats were again involved. Presenter Sue Perkins, who was rumored to be considered for the show, officially distanced herself from such talk after receiving death threats on Twitter, Huffington Post UK reports.

   "Guys, post the utterly fabricated story about me & 'Top Gear,' my timeline has been full of blokes wishing me dead..." the TV host wrote on her official account, announcing that she would be taking a break from the social media platform.

   Previously, it was revealed that BBC director general Lord Tony Hall received credible death threats on the day Clarkson's firing from the network was announced, leading him to hastily hire bodyguards for himself and his spouse. This occurred days after Tymon became the target of death threats and fake social media accounts via the Internet, as well.