Top Gear presenter ‘doesn’t see a problem with some of the language he used’ despite controversy, says Danny Cohen

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson has been warned that “no one person is bigger than the BBC” but continues to disagree that some of his on-screen behaviour has been unacceptable, the BBC’s TV chief has said.

BBC director of television Danny Cohen, speaking at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival on Thursday, admitted that he remains at odds with Clarkson over his behaviour.

“I was very, very clear in public and in private with Jeremy that I was incredibly unhappy with his language,” he said. “I’ve made that really clear, Jeremy knows that’s my position. I talked to loads of people who think that me being so angry about it is an over-reaction.

“He disagrees too by the way, he doesn’t see a problem with some of the language he used. I do. I think it was unacceptable and I’ve made that really, really clear to him and we’ll go from there.”

Cohen was asked whether the top-rating BBC2 show, and its lead presenter, were “untouchable” because it was a flagship franchise. As well as being one of BBC2’s top-rating shows, Top Gear generates considerable revenue for the corporation’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide from merchandising and sales of the show to foreign broadcasters.

“I don’t feel that is the case,” Cohen said. “It is like football clubs, no one is bigger than the club. No one show or person is bigger than the BBC and that is the way I see it. That includes me and anyone who works there.”

The presenter was forced to apologise and given a final warning by the BBC earlier this year after an online video emerged of him saying the N-word while reciting the nursery rhyme Eeny, Meeny, Miny Moe in a non-broadcast outtake from Top Gear. The broadcasting regulator also ruled in July that Clarkson deliberately used offensive racial term “slope” about an Asian man in its Burma special in March.

“I was very unhappy with the language in both,” Cohen said. “We talked about both in quite a lot of detail. He feels differently to me but I think it is very, very important that if you think a member of the team including on screen talent has done something unacceptable that you tell them.”

Earlier this month, Cohen tried to draw a line under the controversies surrounding Top Gear by insisting that Clarkson is not a racist, but adding that he “disagreed” with the language the presenter had used.

Cohen said that some shows will “inevitably” move from BBC2 to BBC1 as they grow, but Top Gear is not going to be one that makes the transition.

He was also asked about the shift of BBC2’s biggest hit, The Great British Bake Off, to BBC1.

“It is never nice when you move the most popular show to another channel, there is a big hole to fill,” said Cohen. “One of the hardest things is finding those next formats and BBC2 has been impressive. How we go beyond chop and cook is something we will look at.”

Cohen added that TV drama was in a “golden age” that has eclipsed movies. Asked about the rise of new rivals such as Netflix, which has spent $100m on two series of Kevin Spacey’s House of Cards, he said that the BBC was just as competitive.

“For the price of two series of House of Cards we made 14 drama series for BBC1 and BBC2,” he said. “What we do for our money is extraordinary.”

Cohen was also asked if there will ever be a female Doctor Who: “I hope so, but we will always pick the best Doctor,” he replied.

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