Overview
- Wilman recounts executives proposing to swap one of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond or James May for a younger Black or Asian host despite strong ratings.
- He says he argued the move would patronize viewers who had chosen the existing trio, and the team continued unchanged until their 2015 exit.
- The book also recalls early-2000s reservations inside the corporation about having “three white, middleish‑aged males” fronting the show.
- Wilman describes a later internal culture probe that he calls politically driven, saying it cleared the programme yet found the relationship with management “totally and utterly broken.”
- In a separate interview he reflects on the Ofcom breach over the 2014 “slope” remark, saying the team grew “giddy on our own popularity,” and recent reports note Top Gear remains off air following Freddie Flintoff’s 2022 crash.