What I imagine happened:

An argument after a long day, lots of shouting, lots of swearing, both involved pissed off at the time, but neither wanted to take it further.
Clarkson mentioned it in a meeting the following monday, either in passing, or as part of a due disclosure or whatever.
HR got involved as it could be classed as bullying and harassment, because that's what HR do (and should do in cases like this if anyone involved wants them to)
HR have their process to follow, which involves suspending the person involved, because that's what the process says, and the process is the process, "It's the process" explained HR "what can you do?"
Because Clarkson is suspended until HR have done their thing, they can't film any more episodes.
The media get hold of it and away we go.

The one thing that everyone seems to agree on here (including James May and a family who were there at the time, and pretty much Clarkson himself), is that Clarkson got properly irate over the fact he couldn't get a hot meal at the end of the day.

Not that he couldn't eat, there was food available, just not what he wanted.

Out of that came verbal abuse, the threat of physical violence and/or actual physical violence, saying he'd get someone sacked - and so on.

The man is a boorish, bullying, racist oaf (all that Mexican stuff was so funny, oh and truck drivers being murderers LOL) - that nearly A MILLION FUCKING PEOPLE will sign a petition to get him back on the telly so he can be, y'know, a boorish, bullying, racist oaf, is rather depressing.

I actually think Top Gear would survive without Clarkson as long as Hammond and May were involved. JC makes Farage look Liberal with his far right opinions and the fact he is a neighbour and a pal of Cameron doesnt exactly make me warm to him. Can you imagine spending an hour in his company - I wouldn't want to. People are campaigning MORE to get the missing 2/3 episodes shown because its one of the most entertaining and funny shows on BBC more than to re-instate him.

I would have spat a drink out if I had been drinking something during that Ambulance special - total farce but then there never was a replacement for The Goodies was there? 3 people etc etc.

I want Top Gear back, I'm not too bothered about JC. I continued to watch Have I got News For You for 8 years since Angus Deayton was sacked and enjoyed it just as much. If someone important from the BBC is reading this (0.0001% chance) maybe they should take this into account.

BTW Ian Hislop has recounted the Clarkson throwing a pen at him story on Question Time last night. He is not beyond physical violence.

No, they should get Chris Harris to replace him

If they fucked off Clarkson I'd probably try watching it again, although I've no great love for Hammond either who the last time I saw the programme with any regularity seemed content to be a Mini-Me Clarkson, which wasn't pleasant.

What I'm interested in is a decent car programme, I'm not too fussed who presents it. (I preferred that cheap Channel 5 knock-off TBH, it was a bit more down to earth and about cars, what was it called, Fifth Gear or something.)

The HIGNFY comparison is pertinent too, it was hard to think of the show without Deaton and yet if anything the rolling guest presenter format actually reinvigorated the programme (before it slowly faded into irrelevance, I occasionally try to watch an episode and find it fairly painful these days).

Top Gear isn't a car show anymore. It's a show about 3 guys dicking around.

Well they should make it a car show again

They should mess about with the format of the show that holds the record for the number of countries it's shown in? The biggest show on BBC2 by some idiotic margin?

The top two restaurants in the world are Subway and McDonalds. I'm not convinced that popular is a metric for laudable.

But by making money from TG they entertain their U.K. audience and help fund less popular shows.

So we cancel Top Gear and can no longer afford Eastenders. I'm OK with that.

The license fee pays for it though lewie.

Choppers, you're just wrong about hignfy. Its still eminently watchable. It has its ups and downs but still produces quality like Victoria Coren ripping Godfrey bloom a new one, and whenever farage is on their they give him enough rope to hang himself.

Yes, a very very small portion of the license fee goes towards funding Radio 6.

Yes, a very very small portion of the license fee goes towards funding Radio 6.

They should mess about with the format of the show that holds the record for the number of countries it's shown in? The biggest show on BBC2 by some idiotic margin?

Well yes, but that wasn't his point. As I'm sure you know.

License is the verb, licence is the noun.

I'd say that buying Radio 6 merchandise would be a cheaper and far more effective way of supporting Radio 6 is that is the intent.

LIt's less than one half of one percent of the BBC's annual income. Can we please put to rest the myth that Top Gear is a wildly successful profit engine without which the BBC is financially ruined?

No-one suggested that, though.

And, unless I'm mistaken, 0.5% of 5bn is a fucking huge amount of money.

I'd happily trade Clarkson for a second Attenborough.

And, unless I'm mistaken, 0.5% of 5bn is a fucking huge amount of money.

The FT quotes £20m per year profit from selling Top Gear in a recent article; reading between the lines a bit, a big part of why it's not more profitable is Clarkson's sky-high fees. In 2010, the whole of BBC Worldwide made a £40m profit, including Doctor Who and all the nature documentaries, which are also big sellers internationally.

So Top Gear makes about twice as much money for the BBC as it costs to run the Parliament Channel. It's less than one half of one percent of the BBC's annual income. Can we please put to rest the myth that Top Gear is a wildly successful profit engine without which the BBC is financially ruined?

Jeremy Clarkson punched his Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon in the face following a 40-minute rant in which he swore at him and referred to him as a “lazy Irish”, eyewitnesses have claimed.

The presenter of Top Gear, who has been suspended pending an internal BBC investigation into his conduct at a hotel in Yorkshire during filming of the show, is said to have threatened to have Tymon sacked during the heated row over food.
A guest at the hotel where the BBC team were staying said Clarkson was furious to find that there was no hot meal available when he and his co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond returned from a drinking session at a nearby pub.

In one of the first independent accounts to emerge of the fracas Sue Ward, from Leeds, claimed the presenter complained it was “ridiculous there was noting to eat” and that the producer had not done his job properly.

Mrs Ward, who was staying at the Simonstone Hall hotel, near Hawes, told Sky News: “Obviously there were a lot of expletives in between all this. Clarkson told his colleague he would see to it that he would be losing his job."
A relative of Mrs Ward, called Denise, 51, said: “It was the shock of how can someone be so rude? It was the swearing and the length of time and this poor guy he ripped into.”

Another source said that Clarkson called Tymon, 36, a “lazy Irish c***” before splitting his lip with a punch that left him with blood running down his face. Tymon is understood to have received treatment at the A&E department at Friarage Hospital, in Northallerton, and is said to have also suffered dizziness.

The producer, who has received abuse on social media following Clarkson’s suspension, including violent threats, has consulted lawyers over the incident. Slater and Gordon solicitors said: “We are assisting Oisin Tymon in relation to incidents occurring during his employment at the BBC.”

Pretty damning witness testimony. I can't see how he can remain employed by the BBC if this is all accurate.

I wonder what those asterisks are.

Well it could have been "cock", right?

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Davpaz?