Richard Hammond and James May are reportedly so loyal to their former Top Gear co-host Jeremy Clarkson that they would rather work with him at Netflix than take a £4 million deal from the BBC.
Hammond and May were offered the huge contract to return to the BBC2 car show, which is one of the most-watched shows around the world. However, The Mirror reports that they both plan to turn down that offer.
Last month, it was reported that May and Hammond were working with Clarkson to prepare a show for Netflix with executive producer Andy Willman. The Mirror’s source claimed this weekend that they are “very close” to making the deal with Netflix official.
The BBC is hoping to keep the Top Gear brand alive and one of the top names tossed around to replace Clarkson is DJ Chris Evans. As the Telegraph points out, Evans said on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch last week that he is filming a “secret Top Gear film” this week.
“We're making a Top Gear - we're doing a Top Gear sequence with an independent production company and we're going to see how it goes,” Evans told Sunday Brunch.
However, some think that this might have just been a joke linked to his revival of his popular TFI Friday talkshow, since Hammond, Evans and Clarkson have all jokingly referenced his comments on Twitter. In addition, Evans has said in the past that he does not want to be considered a Top Gear candidate.