Top Gear

[PW in Polemi]

+1 for Normandie.

However, IMO irrespective of how he was feeling (tired, hungry, worried), and irrespective of who took him to the pub (after all, nobody forced JC to imbibe alcohol) that does not excuse hitting a colleague (especially after a 20 min rant). JC is very lucky that charges for assault were not pressed. Anybody else would have been out on their ear, instantly. The delay was only due to the high value to the BBC of the Clarkson/Top Gear brand.

[bessie]

Top Gear was about cars sadly it turned into clarkson show with grown men acting like little boys.Sorry cannot stand the man.
I do like sport cars ,my son says I should not be driving a mini cooper S at my age.
Put Guy Martin in charge or better still Brian from AC/DC he is brilliant in cars that rock.Guys who truly are petrol heads.

[teapot]

From what I've read, things weren't going well in his personal life, he'd been told he probably had cancer by a doctor 2 days before and he wasn't in the right frame of mind. Drink, lack of food, tired, angry with his fate and the producer just happened to be in the wrong place and took all the built up anger he had.

No excuse; but I think the BBC does bear some responsibility. After all, I presume that they took them all to the pub in the first place.

I think that is some excuse.
Problem is people don't accept that punching is ok nowadays but it goes on all over the place, ugly but it happens. Now if we saw a video of that punch it could be so much more the old man with arthritic hip sort of £250 for the funny clip on you've been framed than a real punch.
I do hope the program does get a bit more back on track but people are attracted to characters and not necessarily boring old motoring information. JC is the only person to have taken a motoring program to heights so something they did was right in a lot of peoples eyes.

[newtimber]

+1 for Normandie.

Anybody else would have been out on their ear, instantly.

The point is that a lot of highly creative people are not like "anybody else". Their characters are not ordinary and they need people to make sure they are looked after. Their job is to ensure that these situations do not arise.

As I said, no excuse for Jeremy Clarkson. But ultimately the management should not have put JC in this position.

If you know someone has a propensity to pull pins out of hand grenades if they are a bit peckish and you leave them alone with a hand grenade without any food, is it not partly your fault if it all goes bang?

[teapot]

+1

Add to that the possible cancer news because that word really, really messes with your mind

[mi casa]

Never liked him. Good to see the back of him. What I found disturbing is the amount of people supporting him and who seem to think it is all right to punch someone in the face - including D. Cameron by the way.

[Sam V]

Remember J Ross and R Brand lewd telephone messages? Ross was suspended from the BBC for 12 weeks and Brand resigned.

[e-richard]

Never liked him. Good to see the back of him. What I found disturbing is the amount of people supporting him and who seem to think it is all right to punch someone in the face - including D. Cameron by the way.

I sincerely doubt that the millions of people supporting him, including Cameron, actually condoned his actions. One can support the man but not every little action that he does.

I doubt anyone, including Jeremy himself, supports his reactions "that night", but In my opinion, he was one of life's larger characters. I will miss his irreverent and deliberately provocative humour.

[Normandie]

But ultimately the management should not have put JC in this position.

They put him in the position of not having a hot meal (I believe cold food was available) at the end of filming so one can understand him punching the person 'responsible'?

Hmmmm.

However, I don't know all the facts - I don't know if the I was promised steak story is true, I don't know whether all the extenuating circumstances that have trickled out (including I thought I had cancer) are true, I don't know whether the reason the abused member of the production team didn't pursue the assault with the police is because he'd have lost his career if he had. But punching someone in these circumstances simply isn't excusable whether Clarkson is considered "creative" or not.

[Sam V]

Never liked him. Good to see the back of him. What I found disturbing is the amount of people supporting him and who seem to think it is all right to punch someone in the face - including D. Cameron by the way.

I sincerely doubt that the millions of people supporting him, including Cameron, actually condoned his actions. One can support the man but not every little action that he does.

I doubt anyone, including Jeremy himself, supports his reactions "that night", but In my opinion, he was one of life's larger characters. I will miss his irreverent and deliberately provocative humour.

+1

[mi casa]

What if it was Clarkson who got the punch you can bet your boots he woulf be looking for the guy to be sacked. He would probably bring charges against the person.

[e-richard]

We're not arguing against him being sacked for misbehaviour, I was simply pointing out that in your post you implied that his supporters were saying it was OK to punch someone in the face.

Its not OK, but he still was (is?) an amusing TV personality and journalist.

[mi casa]

Sorry Richard if I misrepresented you. Let's call it quits. To be honest I have enough to do at the moment without getting into a long debate about Jeremy Clarkson.

[e-richard]

Oooh, mi casa, I cannot think of anything more exciting than an argument about Jeremy Clarkson

Oh, OK, quits it is

[mi casa]