Freddie Flintoff: Top Gear filming halted by BBC following Preston cricketer's crash

Former professional cricketer Freddie was taken to hospital after being involved in an accident while shooting for the hit motoring show at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey on December 13.

The crash left the Preston born star with broken bones, and reported psychological trauma.

In January, a source close to the star told The Times: “He was making a good recovery physically following the crash, but the psychological impact was less clear.”

On March 23, the BBC announced they would be halting the latest series of the popular show due to the incident, explaining “Under the circumstances, we feel it would be inappropriate to resume making series 34.”

In a statement, the BBC said: “We have sincerely apologised to Freddie and will continue to support him with his recovery.

“We understand this [halting the show] will be disappointing for fans, but it is the right thing to do, and we'll make a judgement about how best to continue later this year.”

The BBC also said the decision has impacted the production team, adding that there would be a health and safety review of the show.

Last month, the BBC received the results of an internal investigation into the accident, carried out by BBC Studios’ health and safety team supported by external independent experts, earlier this month, although it was not published publicly.

The BBC reportedly emailed contributors of the show to say their original hopes to start filming new episodes in Febraury would not come to fruition.

Instead, the message read: “we have now pushed filming back. We don’t have a date in mind at the moment.”

Father-of-four Freddie has been a presenter on Top Gear since 2019 and has co-starred in the show with Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris.

During his time as presenter, he also crashed into a market stall in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in February 2019, and in September of the same year, he crashed during a drag race while he was filming at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, but walked away unharmed.