Top Gear's executive producer Andy Wilman (pictured) has admitted the BBC no longer trusts the controversial show following a number of gaffes

Top Gear's executive producer has admitted that BBC bosses no longer trust the controversial show following a number of high profile gaffes.

Andy Wilman said last year was 'an annus horribilis' for the motoring show after it came under fire over claims of racism and caused a near-riot while filming in Argentina.

Presenter Jeremy Clarkson had to apologise when unscreened footage emerged of him mumbling the n-word while reciting the children's nursery rhyme 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' to choose between two cars.

The show was also censured by Ofcom for breaching broadcasting rules after Clarkson used a 'racial' term during the programme's Burma special.

In the March 2014 show he said: 'That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it', as a man walked towards them on their makeshift bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand.

At the time, viewers complained about the use of the word 'slope', which is considered a derogatory term for people of Asian descent.

Ofcom launched an investigation into the Burma TV special and ruled in July that the presenter had 'deliberately employed the offensive word to refer to the Asian person'.

The regulator decided there was 'insufficient context to justify the broadcast of this material' and that the BBC did not apply generally accepted standards to protect viewers from offensive material.

Mr Wilman apologised for the use of the term, saying it had been intended as a 'light-hearted word-play joke' and that the team had been unaware the term was considered offensive.

He told Broadcast Magazine's Talking TV podcast: 'We're knackered after last year because last year was a horrible year.

Top Gear presenters (pictured left to right) James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond

'I think it was a, what did the Queen say, an annus horribilis, I think it was.'

The Queen famously used the phrase in a 1992 speech after the fire at Windsor Castle.

Mr Wilman, who was in Argentina when trouble erupted, also criticised the country's ambassador to the UK who has demanded an apology from the BBC.

He said: 'She had every right to protect her country's good name, but she really now needs to have a good think about the accusations she is throwing around.'

Asked if he thought the BBC trusted the programme's makers, he said: 'Sometimes yes, sometime no'.

He added: 'Sometimes I feel they don't trust us at heart and actually apart from the very odd occasion we can be trusted'.

The year ended with the motoring show's crew forced to flee Argentina after trouble erupted when it emerged they were using a Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL, which some suggested could refer to the Falklands conflict of 1982.

Protests were organised by Argentinian veterans and stones were thrown at vehicles being used by cast and crew.

Presenter Jeremy Clarkson was forced to apologise when he was given a formal warning by the BBC

The Top Gear team were in Argentina as part of their mission to reach the bottom of South America in V8 sports cars, build a 'stadium' from shipping containers and play a game of 'car football'.

In the wake of the Top Gear's visit to South America, leading Argentine daily newspaper, Clarin, has accused Clarkson of continuing to strain the relationship between Britain and Argentina.

It dubbed the BBC's Top Gear special 'the programme of controversy.'

And another newspaper, La Nacion - referring to the diplomatic row the programme generated and referring to the Falklands by their Spanish name - blasted: 'The BBC broadcast the Top Gear programme that poked fun at Argentinians over the Malvinas.'

Argentine news channel TN also headlined its coverage by saying: 'They broadcast the controversial programme.'

It added: 'Despite the Argentine government's protests, the BBC broadcast the second part of the Top Gear programme filmed in Patagonia.

'They showed the team fleeing after the provocation over the Malvinas.'

It was the latest controversy to hit Clarkson, who was forced to apologise earlier this year when he was given a formal warning by the BBC about his conduct.

Mr Wilman said the team behind the show were in talks with the corporation about signing a new deal.