Chris Harris: Ex-Top Gear presenter says he warned BBC over safety before Freddie Flintoff crash
A former Top Gear presenter has revealed he raised safety concerns with the BBC before Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff was seriously injured in a crash and warned someone could be killed.
Breaking his silence, Chris Harris said he “saw this coming”, but said the corporation failed to take him seriously.
TV presenter and former England cricketer Flintoff, 46, was badly hurt in an accident at the Top Gear test track Dunsfold Aerodrome in December 2022, which led to the show being pulled for the “foreseeable future”.
Last year, the BBC said it had agreed a financial settlement Flintoff, reported to be worth £9m.
Flintoff was seriously hurt in the 2022 crash. Pic: BBC
Recalling the crash on the podcast the Joe Rogan Experience, Harris, 49, said: “I ran to the window, looked out, and he wasn’t moving.
“So I thought he was dead. I assumed he was, then he moved.”
He added: “The bit that I find really difficult is that in the aftermath of that accident the show was put on hold.
“Andrew had to recover from frankly awful injuries, and has done so – profound injuries.
“We all kept quiet. We said nothing, and I said nothing because I wanted to look after him. It wasn’t my story was it?
“I was caught up in the collateral damage.
“I lost my job immediately because they cancelled the show when my contract was up, so suddenly I haven’t got a job.”
The former cricketer’s injuries were still visible months after the accident. Pic: Reuters
He added: “And I just sort of got my head down. But I had seen this coming.
“There was a big inquiry, a lot of soul searching. The BBC is good at that.
“But what was never spoken about was that three months before the accident, I’d gone to the BBC and said, ‘Unless you change something, someone’s going to die on this show.’
“So I went to them, I went to the BBC, and I told them my concerns from what I’d seen as the most experienced driver on the show by a mile.
“I said, ‘If we carry on, at the very least, we’re going to have a serious injury, the very worst we have a fatality.'”
Read more:
Flintoff reveals extent of injuries after Top Gear crash
Top Gear star ‘struggled with flashbacks’ after crash
Harris also said he had asked to have a meeting with the head of health and safety.
He added: “What’s really killed me is that no one’s ever really acknowledged the fact that I called it beforehand.”
He went on: “I thought I’d done the right thing. I’m not very good at that. I normally just go with the flow, but I saw this coming.
“I thought I did the right thing. I went to the BBC and I found out really that no one had taken me very seriously.”
Previous Top Gear crashes
The accident was not the first faced by Flintoff during his time on the show. It followed a minor incident in February 2019 when he crashed into a market stall in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Former presenter Richard Hammond was also seriously injured in a crash in 2006. Pic: Reuters
And in 2006, former presenter Richard Hammond was filming for the show when he crashed a jet-powered dragster called Vampire at nearly 320mph (515kph).
The presenter spent two weeks in a coma following the incident, which took place at the former RAF Elvington airbase near York.
He recovered and returned to the show in early 2007, but revealed in February this year that he fears he has memory loss as a result.
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Former Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness and Flintoff joined motoring journalist and racing driver Harris on the show in 2019, taking over from Chris Evans and Friends star Matt LeBlanc.
The show was initially launched in 1977, featuring a range of presenters and reporters in a half-hourly slot on BBC Two which proved popular throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
But its relaunch in 2002 as an hour-long entertainment motoring show, led by Jeremy Clarkson, Hammond and James May, turned it into a worldwide hit.
The BBC declined to comment on Harris’s claims and referred to a previous statement by BBC Studios.
This said a health and safety production review of Top Gear, which did not cover the accident but instead looked at previous seasons, found that “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”.
It added: “The report included a number of recommendations to improve approaches to safety as Top Gear is a complex programme-making environment routinely navigating tight filming schedules and ambitious editorial expectations – challenges often experienced by long-running shows with an established on and off-screen team.
“Learnings included a detailed action plan involving changes in the ways of working, such as increased clarity on roles and responsibilities and better communication between teams for any future Top Gear production.”
Entertainment
BAFTA Games Awards: Astro Bot tops leaderboard – with psychological horror close behind
Astro Bot was the big winner at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, taking home five prizes, including the coveted best game.
The 3D platformer, which was launched to critical acclaim in September to mark PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, was nominated for eight gongs, while Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, led with 11 nods.
But in the end, the critics – some of whom had dubbed Astro Bot a “perfect game” – were right as it dominated the awards at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, hosted by comedian Phil Wang for the second year running.
Astro Bot. Pic: Team Asobi
Nicolas Doucet with his five awards for Astro Bot. Pic: PA
BAFTAs for audio achievement, game design, animation, and best family game completed the set for developers Team Asobi, who designed multiple galaxies and dozens of levels for the titular Astro to journey through, retrieving spaceship parts and rescuing lost robots.
“We’re a team based in Japan, but we have over 12 nationalities. We really mix it up and get ideas from everyone,” Nicolas Doucet, president of Team Asobi, told Sky News.
“We do a lot of jokes in the game, but the joke has a different meaning depending on where you are in the world. So it’s really, really nice to go around and ask everyone ‘is that joke fine in your country?’ And then together we come to a kind of universal playfulness.”
Among the gongs for Astro Bot was the best game award. Pic: BAFTA
It’s a very different atmosphere than that generated by British psychological horror Still Wakes The Deep, which won three awards for best new intellectual property and best supporting and leading roles.
Compared to John Carpenter’s 1980 sci-fi horror The Thing but on a Scottish oil rig, the game sees players take on the role of an electrician trapped on a damaged facility while being pursued by monsters.
Still Wakes The Deep. Pic: Sumo Digital Limited
Developer The Chinese Room has been praised for using home-grown talent to voice the characters, including comedian and actress Karen Dunbar, who picked up best performer in a supporting role for voicing Finlay.
“I’ve been nominated for quite a few BAFTAs in my time in Scotland, and I’ve never won one,” said Dunbar.
“It was such a great category, so many great performances. When they shouted my name, I think I started clapping for someone else!”
Read more: See full list of winners
Still Wakes The Deep star Karen Dunbar won best performer in a supporting role. Pic: BAFTA
Meanwhile, best multiplayer game went to Helldivers II – a satirical, sci-fi shooter that sees players fight bugs, aliens and robots with the gumption and gullibility of the characters in Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers.
It has gained a cult following since launching in February 2024 with so much initial interest it created server problems.
“Games for me are about connecting people and forging those bonds of friendship and the multiplayer award is exactly what it stands for,” said Johan Pilestedt, chief executive of Arrowhead Game Studios.
Helldivers II. Pic: Arrowhead/Sony
From outer space to a fictional Yorkshire town called Barnsworth. Thank Goodness You’re Here! – a cartoonish, comedy platformer – won Best British Game. Like Still Wakes The Deep, it has won praise for the authenticity of its actors and setting.
“I think it’s been a real privilege to be able to represent Barnsley on the silver screen,” said Will Todd, who is from the town and one of two game designers behind the project.
Thank Goodness You’re Here! Pic: Coal Supper/Panic Inc
Co-creator James Carbutt added: “Me and Will wrote everything in our tone of voice, quite literally. The further along development we got, the more we lent into it. I think the voices from different parts of the UK and different voices in gaming are super important, and hopefully we’re one of them.”
By the time the BAFTAs wrapped up, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was only handed one of the 11 BAFTAs it was nominated for, technical achievement.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. Pic: Ninja Theory
But developers Ninja Theory are already adding this year’s win to a tally of five BAFTAs they were awarded for the first game in the series, which created a protagonist with psychosis by drawing on clinical neuroscience and the experiences of people living with the condition.
Blondie drummer Clem Burke has died at the age of 70
The band said Blurke had been diagnosed with cancer, and described his death as a “profound loss”.
He featured on all the Debbie Harry-fronted group’s studio albums since joining a year after their formation in 1975.
Blurke was with the band from their self-titled debut, through their 1978 classic Parallel Lines, to 2017’s Pollinator.
Drummer Burke.
Pic: Reuters
In a statement on Blondie’s Instagram, Harry and the band’s guitarist, Chris Stein, said: “It is with profound sadness that we relay news of the passing of our beloved friend and bandmate Clem Burke following a private battle with cancer.
“Clem was not just a drummer, he was the heartbeat of Blondie.
“His talent, energy, and passion for music were unmatched, and his contributions to our sound and success are immeasurable.
“Beyond his musicianship, Clem was a source of inspiration both on and off the stage. His vibrant spirit, infectious enthusiasm and rock solid work ethic touched everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.
“Clem’s influence extended far beyond Blondie, a self-proclaimed ‘rock and roll survivalist’, he played and collaborated with numerous iconic artists.”
Burke in his performance at Festival Estereo Picnic 2023.
Pic: AP
Burke featured on Iggy Pop’s 1982 album Zombie Birdhouse and also performed with Bob Dylan, The Ramones, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend and Joan Jett.
The statement went on to say Burke had left an “indelible mark on every project he was part of”.
It added: “We extend our deepest condolences to Clem’s family, friends, and fans around the world. His legacy will live on through the tremendous amount of music he created and the countless lives he touched.”
Burke, who performed on classic tracks such as Call Me, Heart Of Glass and One Way Or Another, made his final live appearance with Blondie last year.
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Blondie performing during Glastonbury Festival in 2023.
Pic: Invision/AP
Among those paying tribute to him was Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, who said: “I feel saddened that Clem Burke was taken from us so soon.
“May he rest in peace, spectacular drumming, we were friends.”
Nancy Sinatra said: “My heart is shattered. Clem became an icon as a member of Blondie, but he was also an important part of my band, the K.A.B. I was blessed to call him my friend.
“If I ever needed him, he was there. Always. Sending healing prayers and comfort to his widow, Ellen, his family, and all who loved him.”
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