Stigless Clarkson may return for prearranged live shows

JUST days after the BBC dumped Jeremy Clarkson, it could bring him back with his Top Gear copresenters for a series of live events.

Negotiations are under way to let him resume his role as lead presenter of a number of live shows in front of 100,000 paying fans, starting in Australia next month and culminating in the O2 arena in London at the end of November.

Although the Top Gear team, including James May and Richard Hammond, are expected to front the shows, it is likely the events will be renamed and go ahead without some key elements of the television programme, such as the Stig, the mysterious test driver in white. The Stig is one of the BBC’s most valuable commercial assets.

The prospect of a final chapter in the saga will delight fans, but it is fraught with risk for BBC bosses, who could be accused of weakness and caving in to commercial pressure.

Lord Hall, the director-general, dismissed Clarkson last week for an ‘‘unprovoked physical attack’’ on a Top Gear producer, despite a petition signed by more than 1 million supporters.

Informed sources said the BBC was poised to allow Clarkson to return to avoid disappointing fans who had already bought tickets, priced from £35 (NZ$69) to more than £200. A decision is expected this week.

If they try to block the shows they could be liable for refunding all the tickets at a cost estimated to be up to £10 million.

The live events are operated by a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Brand Events.

This weekend Live Nation, promoter of the BBC Top Gear Live UK Arena Tour 2015, claimed that a version would definitely go ahead even without the BBC’s consent, with five shows in Belfast in May, five in Sheffield in June and four in the O2.

Phil Bowdery, of Live Nation, said the BBC’s approval was not vital: ‘‘The three presenters will be there [at the first United Kingdom show in Belfast]. We don’t need the BBC’s involvement. We might have to rebrand but we’re carrying on.

‘‘The BBC owns the name and certain aspects of the show. We won’t be able to use any VT [videotape] of Top Gear [the TV programme].

‘‘There will be a new name and no Stig because obviously that’s their [the BBC’s] property. We’ve sold an awful lot of tickets and we want to keep faith with who’ve bought tickets.’’

The BBC’s decision will also affect the fate of planned events in Australia, Poland and South Africa, as well as a rescheduled leg in Norway. Sources said there was still a small chance the shows might go ahead unchanged but it was more likely BBC and Top Gear branding would be removed.

Clarkson and his two copresenters, Hammond and May, met last week in a west London restaurant to consider their futures at a meeting friends dubbed the ‘‘pasta house summit’’. They were joined by Andy Wilman, Clarkson’s longterm collaborator and the executive producer of Top Gear.

The presenters are keen to be free from commercial pressures that could otherwise make the series less risque or outspoken.

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