Richard Hammond has said ‘things do go wrong’, even on TV (Pictures: Shutterstock/Getty)
Richard Hammond has asked TV bosses to make things safer after Freddie Flintoff’s dangerous crash on Top Gear late last year.
Flintoff, 45, was hospitalised in December 2022 while filming an episode after a devastating horror crash on the Top Gear test track that left him ‘lucky to be alive’.
Now the former England cricketer and current Top Gear presenter is apparently readying himself for his TV return after months out of the spotlight.
But ahead of Flintoff’s return, former Top Gear host Hammond, 53, has warned TV bosses that a similar event might happen again if they’re not careful.
‘Television makers have to be aware that you’re not in some special bubble just because you’re making a TV show, and things can and do go wrong.’
He told MailOnline: ‘Just like when my tyre blew at that speed – it’s going to be bad. But what [can you] do? Track it back to the person who tapped the rubber?’
Hammond was in an induced coma for three weeks in 2006 (Picture: WireImage)
Hammond himself was also badly injured in a 280 mph crash while filming for the BBC car show in 2006 – it left him in a medically induced coma for three weeks.
Then again in 2017 he was involved in another life-threatening accident while recording episodes for Amazon Prime Video series The Grand Tour.
Reflecting on the crash 17 years ago, he looked back at how much the incident damaged him and how much time he needed to make a full recovery.
Hammond himself was almost killed by this crash in 2006 (Picture: BBC)
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‘In the early days… I was having terrible trouble containing and controlling emotions, which is part of the damage done to my brain’s frontal lobe.’
Hammond also said that his wife Amanda in supported him going back to work because ‘keeping me away from work was probably a greater problem’.
He continued: ‘But I had to go back carefully and have an afternoon nap every day. It was immensely traumatic for Mindy and our girls.’
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Earlier this month, Flintoff spoke publicly for the first time since his crash last year, saying that his England cricket teammates stood by him during ‘hard times’.
‘As I found over the past few months, [the England cricket family] will be there for you in the hardest times of your life,’ he told new cricketer Tom Hartley.
Watch The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime Video.
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Hammond was involved a dangerous crash in 2006.Â
