'Top Gear' season cancellation reportedly costs BBC 4 million viewers

JEREMY CLARKSON TO GIVE BBC INVESTIGATION HIS ACCOUNT OF INCIDENT THIS WEEK

   The BBC has lost 4 million viewers as a result of Jeremy Clarkson's suspension from the UK edition of "Top Gear" early last week, according to The Guardian. The network's decision to suspend the longtime host and cancel the remaining three episodes in the season has inflicted a massive hit in ratings, with the network rerunning "Red Arrows: Inside the Bubble," a documentary about the Royal Air Force aerobatics team in "Top Gear's" time slot. The rerun of the documentary reportedly netted BBC just 1.3 million viewers, 4 million less than the last episode of the long-running car program which aired on March 8.

   "Top Gear" has consistently been BBC2's most popular weekly show, with the last new aired episode gathering 5.1 million viewers, The Guardian reports.

   The embattled "Top Gear" host will give BBC Scotland director Ken MacQuarrie, who is in charge of the network's investigation into the incident, his version of the story this week. It was revealed last week that Clarkson called Danny Cohen, BBC's director of television programming, to apologize over the incident that took place at Simonstone Hall hotel in Yorkshire, according to The Guardian.

   "We can now confirm that Top Gear will not be back in the studio this week and, as such, the episode due for broadcast this Sunday night (22nd March) will also be postponed pending the outcome of the investigation," read a statement by the BBC on the show's official website.

   Accounts of the incident in the British media appear to agree on a scenario, based on comments by some of those present: Clarkson became angry after day of filming and allegedly verbally abused BBC producer Oisin Tymon before punching him, splitting his lip. Tymon reportedly required a hospital visit after the incident. The Mirror newspaper painted a picture of the incident that cited Clarkson's frustration with filming and production of the show, rather than food as had previously been reported, as the root cause of what the BBC called a "fracas."

   Neither Clarkson nor the BBC have made definitive statements about the show's future, with Clarkson declining to speculate or comment about the restart of production for the show's next season. Clarkson's Twitter profile has been amended to read "I am probably a presenter on the BBC2 motoring show Top Gear."

   The trio of hosts is still scheduled to take part in four "Top Gear Live" shows in Norway at the end of the month, though BBC has not mentioned whether those events will be cancelled as well.

   An online petiton to reinstate Clarkson at the network has gathered over 950,000 signatures as of Tuesday, March 17.