It’s been reported today that Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson allegedly reacted furiously to discovering that he was being followed and photographed by a posse of paparazzi while in Australia recently.

The Daily Star reports that an angry Jeremy yelled at photographers “Why are you doing this?” when he was photographed apparently meeting up with Phillipa Sage, a member of the Top Gear production staff with whom Jeremy allegedly had an affair.

The paper states, “Jezza allegedly threatened to throw one of them into the river outside a posh restaurant in Sydney, Australia.” Read more & comment »

With the 18th National Television Awards only two weeks away all the votes in the public choice categories have been counted and a short list has now been released for you to vote for your favourites!

The National Television Awards is a celebration of the last year on our television sets from soap’s to comedy, drama to factual, and whilst many of the awards are decide by an independent panel, the following 14 awards are left for you, the voting public to decide.
Read more & comment »

It’s been reported today that Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson has bagged a deal worth “millions” by selling the rights to the show to the BBC.

The Mirror reports that Clarkson and the show’s producer Andy Wilman owned between them 50% of the rights to the Top Gear brand through their company Bedder 6. The BBC owned the rest.

And of course, the franchise makes a small fortune, not least from Top Gear merchandising, DVDs and live shows. Just last year, Top Gear posted pre-tax profits of £15.2million, and the projected revenue from the show is valued at between £50million and £100million.

However, the paper adds, “It is believed that the previous arrangement had caused problems between Clarkson, 52, and his TV co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond.” Read more & comment »

When Jeremy Clarkson opens his mouth these days, the whole world stops and holds their breath in anticipation of just what might come out of it, and today we have not been disappointed!

The opinionated Top Gear presenter has confirmed that he is cancelling the popular car show for the rest of this year because of the competition in ratings it has experienced in the past with the  X Factor, or, to quote the notoriously childish motor fanatic, “fat people singing”.
Read more & comment »

Fans of Top Gear will undoubtedly be a tad naffed off to hear that the show won’t be back on our screens with a new series again until 2013.

And why is that I hear you cry? Well, apparently it’s because the BBC fear the show will do badly in the viewer ratings as it would clash with The X Factor in the timeslot it’s been allocated.

However, why the Beeb can’t just move it around the schedule will forever remain a mystery.

Of there being no new episodes this year, gob on a stick presenter Jeremy Clarkson said, “Top Gear is a medium-sized van. Cowell is a juggernaut.”

Writing in The Sun, Jeremy continued, “Would love to be back in the autumn but Sunday nights then will be full of fat people singing… Read more & comment »

Top Gear presenter and newspaper columnist Jezzer Clarkson must spend a fortune on specially adapted shoe horns that enable him to prise his foot out of his often runaway gob…

And he’s in need of yet another today as it’s been reported that his solution to the often long waits in queues at airports could be solved by introducing “a bit of racism” in order to target “high risk” passengers.

Jeremy wrote, “Nobody is waved through any more. The result is plain for all to see. And the problem is the only possible solution is to introduce a bit of racism.

“You can’t get that sort of thing past the bleeding-heart liberals… Read more & comment »

Last year, we reported that Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson had rescinded an injunction that he acquired to stop his ex-wife, Alex Hall, from publishing a tell-all book about her marriage to the star.

And today, the PA report that Hall described the injunction as “terrifying”, though unless it lurked behind a bush then jumped out and yelled “Boo!” I personally can’t see what’s terribly scary about it.

However, while giving evidence to the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions, Ms Hall revealed that her marriage to Jeremy ended before he was famous, but she added that she “maintained a relationship” with him.

She then told the committee that she had made plans to write a book “about the effects of having a relationship with a celebrity” and she informed Jeremy that she was going to do so… Read more & comment »

It’s been reported today that Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has landed a new role, presenting what’s been described as a “global springwatch.”

Airing on the BBC, the new show, entitled, Planet Earth Live, will debut in the spring, and will feature animals giving birth in their natural habitats all over the world.

The Sun’s TV Biz reports, “The ambitious project will use satellite links to broadcast the arrivals of ‘A-list animals’ including bears in America, lemurs in Madagascar and cheetahs in Africa.”

The show is expected to air around three hours of footage each week over three consecutive weeks. Countryfile host Julia Bradbury will join Richard in presenting the show.

One of the show’s commissioning executives, Tim Scoones, says that show is “the most editorially, technically and logistically ambitious live wildlife event we’ve ever undertaken”. Read more & comment »

As you may recall, Jeremy Clarkson – who must by now resemble a prune, so much time does he spend in hot water – and his co-hosts, Richard Hammond and James May angered some viewers of the Top Gear Christmas special by reportedly “mocking” Indians and their culture.

In the special episode, Jeremy was shown driving around in a car that was fitted with a toilet, because, he said, “everyone who comes here gets the trots.”

The team also put a variety of banners on trains, which, when the carriages moved, former “obscene” messages.

The Sun reports that Indian High Commission official Raja Sekhar says that his office has sent a letter to the BBC to “convey our strong disappointment.” Read more & comment »

As I’ve reported previously here on Primetime, publishing an article about Jeremy Clarkson having foot in mouth disease is almost a daily occurrence…

And today is no different, and this time, he has caused a kafuffle over making a joke about the deaths of 23 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004.

While writing in his column for the Sun, about his loathing of synchronized swimming – as you do – he added, “[It is] Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water.

“You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe Beach. For free.”

In response to Jeremy’s comments, Matt Collins of equality campaign Hope Not Hate told the Daily Star, “He is not funny and all he proves is that he is out of touch with modern Britain and that he belongs in the Dark Ages… Read more & comment »

In what’s becoming almost a daily occurrence – hence the SSDD in the title of this post – Jeremy Clarkson has upset viewers by “mocking” Indians and being allegedly offensive to their culture.

Viewers complained about Clarkson’s remarks and actions on the Christmas special of Top Gear, which aired on Wednesday night, in which he was seen taking off his trousers in front of “bemused” Indian dignitaries.

The incident occurred when Jeremy was demonstrating how a trouser press worked – and while joking that the implement could be used to heat naan bread – and he added insult to apparent injury by joking about India’s toilets, their trains and the country’s history.

The Daily Star states of his many faux pas in the show, “He ridiculed the country’s toilet facilities by driving around slums in a Jaguar fitted with a toilet… Read more & comment »

Here’s part two of the Christmas preview looking at all the laughs and fun that can be had over the Christmas period and also some serious BBC4-like stuff if you’re that way inclined

Comedy 

Absolutely Fabulous (BBC1)
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Jennifer Saunders’ brilliant comedy, the BBC have commissioned two new episodes of the show to air over Christmas and that’s before another treat for Ab Fab fans as there is a film in the works. Eddy is still in PR but is working in the build-up for the 2012 Olympics, the third new episode is set to air at the same time as the games, and she is now worshipping Louis Vitton and Stella McCartney. Meanwhile Patsy still works for her magazine but it seems that Effy wants to be an actress after being presented as a swotty student for all those years. I think if these episodes are done well and the writers have new ideas for the characters then I say bring it on but there’s just a niggling feeling somewhere in me that this may just fail. I am pleased though that the cameo cast includes a bizarre appearance from The Killing star Sophie Grabol. 
Read more & comment »

It’s been reported today that the BBC’s Director General, Mark Thompson, has defended the broadcasting body’s decision not to fire or even discipline Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson for any of his recent gaffes.

In particular – and while discussing the issue with the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee – Thompson referenced Jeremy’s remarks on a recent edition of The One Show, in which he claimed that striking workers “should be shot.”

His other recent booboos have included branding suicide victims as “selfish” for holding up public transport by jumping in front of trains.

However, it was his remark over the strikers that attracted the most criticism, landing some 32,000 complaints at the door of BBC execs… Read more & comment »

Two of the UK’s tabloid newspapers have today suggested very different reasons as to why Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has recently made what some consider to be outrageous comments…

Last week, he told The One Show viewers that strikers “should be shot”, then, while writing his column in The Sun, he branded people who commit suicide by throwing themselves in front of trains, “selfish.”

The Daily Star states that Jeremy’s ex-wife has suggested that he’s making remarks he’s well aware with infuriate the public in order to get fired from the BBC, while the Daily Mirror claims BBC insiders have suggested that Jeremy is “mentally unstable.”

Starting with the Star’s report, they stated that Alex Hall – who, until recently, was legally prohibited from speaking about Jeremy – told their reporter that Jeremy is fed up of being a celebrity and always in the public eye.

She said, “Jeremy’s the same now as he’s always been.

“The problem is that now he says these things to an audience of millions rather than to a few friends… Read more & comment »

Top Gear star Jeremy Clarkson is rapidly becoming the most outspoken – and often inappropriately so – man on TV, and today, he’s courted fresh controversy by branding people who commit suicide as “selfish.”

He made his remark specifically about people who chose death by oncoming train as their manner of earthly exit, saying that they caused “immense disruption” to commuters.

As we reported yesterday, Jeremy apologised for causing an outrage earlier in the week by saying striking workers should “shot”, but as yet, no apology for his latest remark has been forthcoming

Writing for his column in the Sun, Jeremy said, “I have the deepest sympathy for anyone whose life is so mangled and messed up that they believe death’s icy embrace will be better.”

However, he then added, “Hurling themselves in front of a speeding train is a very selfish way to go, because the disruption it causes is immense… Read more & comment »