Chris Harris has shared his memories of working on Top Gear after the BBC officially took the long-running series off air.
The 48-year-old automotive journalist, amateur racing driver and television presenter joined the show in 2017 and co-presented it with Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness.
However, it was taken off air last year following Flintoff’s horror crash, with the national broadcaster this week revealing it would be ‘rested’ for the ‘foreseeable future’.
Now Chris has spoken about the show coming to an end for the time being.
‘How I’ll remember my time on Top Gear. Hundreds of hours laughing,’ he posted on Instagram alongside a photo of him laughing while in the driver’s seat of a Tesla.
‘There’s much to be said on how/why/what in the future.
‘But for now, I’ll remember the good times and enjoy how much I love now being a part of Collecting Cars (his podcast with motoring enthusiast Edward Lovett).’
He added: ‘Look after people and, sometimes, they’ll look after you.’
Earlier this week Paddy also shared some photos of the trio behind-the-scenes on social media and wrote: ‘We were always going to be b***ends but we were your b***ends.
‘Thanks for all the love over the years folks, it was very much appreciated. #TopGear.’
On Tuesday, the broadcaster said to PA in a statement it had ‘decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future.’
Teasing future projects with the presenters, the corporation added: ‘The BBC remains committed to Freddie, Chris and Paddy who have been at the heart of the show’s renaissance since 2019, and we’re excited about new projects being developed with each of them.
‘We will have more to say in the near future on this. We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do.’
Former Top Gear James May who fronted the show alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond until 2015, has since expressed his devastation at the news, saying it will be a ‘shame’ if the BBC does not give Top Gear a ‘rethink’.
Production of the show has been halted since former England cricket captain Freddie, 45, was taken to hospital in December 2022 after he was injured in an accident at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.
Following the crash, the BBC announced that it would pause production on the show as it was felt it would be ‘inappropriate’, adding there would be a health and safety review.
In addition, BBC Studios 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.’
A statement added: ‘The report includes 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.’
There was a separate investigation into Freddie’s crash which was concluded in March of this year and those findings will not be published.
Last month, it was reported that he had agreed to a seven-figure sum of £9million compensation from the BBC, with a spokesperson from BBC Studios saying: ‘BBC Studios has reached an agreement with Freddie that we believe supports his continued rehabilitation, return to work and future plans.’
In September, father-of-four Freddie was photographed for the first time in public since the crash and had visible facial injuries as he joined up with the England cricket squad for their one-day international series against New Zealand.
Shortly afterwards, he spoke publicly for the first time, making a heartwarming speech in which he said: ‘Play with passion, play with pride, play with belief. And also part of a family of people. They’ll share the good times with you, share the successes.
‘But as I found over the past few months, they’ll be there for you in the hardest times of your life.’
The accident was not the first faced by the sporting legend since he began working on the show.
In February 2019 the presenter was involved in a minor incident when he crashed into a market stall in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Freddie and Paddy made their debut as Top Gear hosts in June 2019, while Chris started two years prior.
Top Gear is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
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