BBC won't show Top Gear Cenotaph stunt

A statement released yesterday by the corporation said the Cenotaph was “at no point” intended to feature in the segment filmed on location around central London.

Co-host Matt LeBlanc and a professional driver performed stunts near the war memorial on Whitehall, but the motoring caper sparked an outcry.

“The Cenotaph was at no point intended to feature in the programme and therefore will not appear in the final film,” the statement said.

The statement added that the driver of the car was “briefed by production prior to filming” to not do any manoeuvres close to the monument, “an instruction to which he fully adhered”.

“We would like to make it absolutely clear that the Top Gear team has the utmost respect for the Cenotaph, what it stands for, and those heroic individuals whose memory it serves so fittingly,” the statement concluded.

Earlier, Chris Evans said footage for the new Top Gear series filmed near the Cenotaph in London is “disrespectful” and should not be broadcast.

Speaking outside the BBC yesterday, Evans described the images as “terrible”.

“They look so disrespectful,” he said before adding that there are “mitigating circumstances”.

He continued: “I saw the images this morning for the first time and I felt the same as everybody else.”

In response to a question as to whether it reflected positively on Top Gear, he said: “This is not a good story, no.”

“We’re all mortified by it, so absolutely, 100 per cent , it should not be shown.”

Evans admitted he does not have the final say over the fate of the footage.

“But if it was my decision, then I would say, that particular scene shouldn’t be shown and I think everyone will agree,” he said.

LeBlanc was seen driving around Westminster as shooting took place for the new series of the BBC Two show, which is due to air in May, and photos show large tyre circles left on streets surrounding the war memorial after the stunt.

The stunt has been described as “gravely disrespectful” by retired Colonel Richard Kemp.

He told the Telegraph: “This is a sacred tribute to millions of people who have done far more for their country than Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc ever will. Jeremy Clarkson was certainly no saint but I don’t believe he would have ever performed a stunt in such bad taste.”