BBC to Air Final 'Top Gear' Footage With Ousted Host Jeremy Clarkson

“It is serious and unfortunate what happened, but there is no ban on Jeremy," says BBC Two controller Kim Shillinglaw.

Footage shot for popular auto show Top Gear, before host Jeremy Clarkson was ditched, will air on the BBC later this year, according to the controller of the BBC Two network.

Video shot for the latest season's final three episodes will air this year, The Guardian quoted BBC Two controller Kim Shillinglaw as saying. The BBC shelved the final three episodes after suspending Clarkson and starting an investigation of a "fracas" with a producer, which led to the BBC's decision not to renew the host's contract.

Shillinglaw said the Top Gear footage would be on BBC Two as early as the summer and definitely before the end of the year, The Guardian reported. She explained that not enough video had been shot for three full hourlong episodes, but didn't provide further details.

“There is no way I would not want the available material not to be seen by viewers,” she said. “Top Gear is a show that I love, I genuinely watch it and I always have.”

“Jeremy will be back on the BBC,” she said. “It is serious and unfortunate what happened, but there is no ban on Jeremy being on the BBC. It’s a big deal what happened, and Jeremy, as any human being would, needs some time out."

Shillinglaw confirmed the show would return in a different form next year and said she would consider female hosts. She declined to predict whether Clarkson’s co-hosts, Richard Hammond and James May, would return.

"We will definitely look at women, but it is not the driving priority," she said. "I have never approached an individual show thinking that is the way you cast it."

Twitter: @georgszalai