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Jeremy Clarkson will earn £10million a year for his Amazon car show, with James May, Richard Hammond, and producer Andy Wilman close behind.

The disgraced Top Gear host, axed from the BBC show for punching producer Oisin Tymon earlier this year, will be Britain’s highest-paid TV host, say senior industry sources.

Amazon Prime is reportedly spending £160million on 36 episodes over three years, giving each individual show a budget

of £4.5million.

The budget for Top Gear was £500,000 per show, rising to around £1million when presenter costs were added.

Stars' salaries

The fees of £1million for Clarkson and £500,000 for his sidekicks were partly paid by BBC Worldwide, which made £150million a year through global sales.

Industry sources say Clarkson will be paid far more generously than was previously estimated, pocketing £30million for the three 12-part series, due to air next autumn.

One senior source said: “Jeremy would be looking at £9.6million a series with the other two not far behind, on the same deal as the producer.

"Clarkson may have lamped someone over a hot dinner but he’ll be raking it in.”

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The deal would put Clarkson, 55, on £800,000 an episode and Hammond, 45, May, 52, and producer Andy Wilman on an annual rate of £7.2million or £600,000 an episode.

Their staggering fees would still leave enough for each show to have a huge production budget.

But one executive said that all the money did not guarantee they could recapture the success of Top Gear.

“People are wondering if the programme will lose its charm,” he said.

“Having the three of them careering around in souped-up bangers was at the heart of what they did – giving them too much money could ruin all that.”

And Piers Morgan said that Clarkson is "past it" in speculating whether the trio will be a success for Amazon.

Those wanting to watch the former Top Gear team must pay a £79 Amazon Prime subscription.

Wilman has already declared that the new show’s production manager will be able to “run f***ing riot” with money.

Speaking earlier this month, the founder and chief executive of digital streaming service Amazon told how securing the former Top Gear trio for the new motoring show had proven “very, very, very, expensive”.

Jeff Bezos added that the British presenters were “worth a lot, and they know it”.

Today ITV controller Peter Fincham said in his session at Edinburgh that he couldn’t compete with those sorts of figures.

“I’m not sure we run to very, very, very expensive,” he said.

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Earlier this week BBC TV boss Danny Cohen said it “wasn’t difficult” to watch Clarkson, Hammond and May sign the Amazon deal – he famously fell out with Clarkson over his choice of language on several occasions.

When it airs, it will be impossible to tell how popular the as-yet-untitled Amazon car show proves to be because, unlike traditional TV channels, the streaming services do not publish ratings.

Amazon is desperate to catch up with rival Netflix, which currently has four times the number of subscribers thanks to “binge-watch” dramas such as House of Cards.

Its strategy is to sign proven talent who are likely to deliver large audiences.

But viewers do not always warm to presenters given big-money deals – Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley were wooed to ITV’s Daybreak on bumper pay packets but failed to impress and were sacked within a year.

BBC director general Tony Hall axed Clarkson in March after he punched Tymon for not providing him with a hot dinner while filming on location.

Oisin, who was branded an “Irish c***” during the attack for which he later went to A&E for medical attention, now works on another BBC programme.

(Image: Daily Mirror / BBC)

May and Hammond were invited back onto the BBC car show but declined in favour of staying with Clarkson, and Wilman later resigned as producer.

Those wanting to watch the former Top Gear team in future will have to pay the £79 Amazon Prime subscription fee – just 4% of households in Britain are currently estimated to have access.

But some fans may choose to stick with the new version of BBC2’s Top Gear, which will return in the spring fronted by Chris Evans.