Richard Hammond's crash was 'real wake-up call' for safety on Top Gear

Richard Hammond with his arm and elbow resting on the roof of a car
-Credit: (Image: Fuelling Around / Adrian Flux)


Former Top Gear producer Andy Wilman delivered impactful remarks about the harrowing crash involving Richard Hammond, referring to it as a "real wake-up call" concerning safety on the hit BBC show. Speaking candidly at the Royal Television Society (RTS) London Conference, Wilmanwho served as producer from 2002 to 2015admitted that crashes had become far too common and signalled that it was "time to end" the programme.

Talking about their approach to risk, the Clarkson's Farm's producer revealed his frustrations with the prevalent "culture of accident prevention" instead of "mitigation" He explained their rationale: "We have actually done all the risk assessments, what we get annoyed at is if there's a culture of accident prevention, and we're like, no, it's mitigation."

Emphasising preparedness for potential accidents, he added, "You know, when one of them eventually crashes, have we got everything in place? If not, shall we not do something in case they crash? That was a point of difference for us."

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Reflecting on the severity of past incidents, he recounted, "Richard's first big crash was a real wake-up call because I remember driving up and thinking, f*** me, it's a TV show and I rang the hospital, and they went he's in intensive care, and we don't know if he's going to make it."

He then remarked on the professional handling of the situation, "You're like, we've done everything so you're not thinking about who's to blame or anything like that because everything was in place.", reports Plymouth Live.

Wilman expressed his concern for Hammond, stating, "But you just think he's got a wife and two children, what are we doing? That fear was for him and the helplessness, obviously, because they won't tell you anymore, on the part they don't give you any detail."

He continued, "And you start (thinking) in traffic and you're like panicking, and you're thinking, what's the point of what we do? What is the point? ".

Wilman also mentioned a conversation he had with Jeremy Clarkson after the incident, saying, "We did have a good chat afterwards, me and Jeremy, like, God should we be bothered with this? ".

Hammond had been involved in a severe crash while filming Top Gear in 2006, resulting in a five-week hospital stay and a two-week coma.

In a separate discussion, Wilman revealed that during their time on Top Gear, the team had intentionally made their office uninviting to avoid interference from executives. He explained, "I think we used to make the place a bit horrible because I wanted to be left alone from execs."

This strategy allowed them to work independently, and Wilman noted, "Luckily, it was good stuff."

Additionally, Wilman spoke about his long-standing working relationship with Jeremy Clarkson, which began in school. He described their partnership as having a "synergy" that led to an "organic development" throughout their collaborative projects.

Wilman revealed, "I went to school with him, but we didn't plan any of this when we were at school."

He recognized their dynamic, adding, "But the working together that we have done, we do have a synergy, I think some of that did come from school, there's no denying that."

Wilman also observed that "Because one of the threads that has shot through our stuff is there has been an organic development of each show."

These insights from the producer emerged following the incident where TV host and former England cricketer Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff was seriously injured in a crash during Top Gear filming at Dunsfold Aerodrome in December 2022. Subsequently, the BBC decided to put the motoring programme on pause for the "foreseeable future".

In the wake of the accident, an independent safety review of Top Gear took place, which concluded that although "while BBC Studios had complied with the required BBC policies and industry best practice in making the show, there were important learnings which would need to be rigorously applied to future Top Gear UK productions".