Former Top Gear presenter Steve Berry has launched a scathing attack on the BBC, accusing the broadcasters of ‘covering their a***s’ following a crash he suffered, in the wake of Andrew Flintoff’s horror accident on the show.
A documentary was released late on Thursday evening telling the story of Flintoff’s crash, as well as his recovery and the extent of the injuries he suffered back in 2022 while filming for Top Gear.
The cricket legend turned presenter had been driving a Morgan Super 3 three-wheeled sports car, which flipped and dragged him across the tarmac of Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.
Flintoff was left with extensive damage to his face, teeth and ribs as a result of the crash, with the show later canceled.
Flintoff received a £9m payout from the BBC following the crash, with the star having since criticised the corporation for treating him ‘like a piece of meat’ on Top Gear in a bid to attract more TV viewers.
But when asked about the incident, presenter from 1993-1999 Berry, who added he did not want to ‘undermine’ Flintoff’s ordeal, launched into an extraordinary rant.
Former Top Gear host Steve Berry launched an extraordinary rant at the BBC when discussing a crash he suffered in the 1990s
Berry was a presenter on the automotive programme for six years between 1993 and 1999
He was asked about Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff’s own crash back in 2022 after a Disney+ documentary aired telling the story of his recovery
‘I notice there’s no mention of the one [crash] that happened to me when I was a Top Gear presenter where I ended up upside down in a ditch and had to burrow my way out of the wreckage,’ he said when asked about Flintoff’s crash.
‘I was then taken to hospital having been scalped with numerous injuries and was told to keep quiet and not tell anybody about it and, get this, I had to ride back from the hospital to my house on a motorcycle because everybody was running around covering their a*** – too busy.
‘When I got home, my then wife didn’t even know it had happened. I had to tell her. “Don’t tell anyone Steve, you will have to be quiet”, they just paid off the guy whose Lotus classic car was completely written off in the accident.
‘The only trace of this is on my Wikipedia page which says at the bottom, ‘we love getting together as presenters so we could have a good laugh about what Steve Berry had crashed that week’, from Jeremy Clarkson.
‘They had a good laugh at my expense. Things were very different 25 years ago, but I don’t want to undermine what happened to Andrew Flintoff.
‘I imagine the £9m he got for this, £6,000 I got for mine by the way, plus the wave of public sympathy, absolutely marvellous.’
Berry was briefly interrupted for a GB News host to offer her sympathies, but the former presenter continued apace.
‘Nobody has got any idea what happened to me, they just had a good laugh about it.
Berry told of a crash he suffered in a Lotus after which he claims that he was paid just £6,000 and told to ‘keep quiet’
An image following Flintoff’s horrifying crash was released as part of the trailer for the Disney+ documentary
‘I had to burrow my way out of that car like a badger and my hands were cut to shreds and I had to ride home, having been scalped. I had to have my scalp stapled back onto my head.
‘They told me to keep quiet about it. I got £6,000, and I did keep quiet.’
He was then asked whether the BBC has a track record for ‘risking far too much’ for the sake of the programme.
Cited as precedent for the question were crashes suffered by both Flintoff and Berry, as well as Richard Hammond, who famously suffered a severe crash while travelling at 288mph back in 2006 during his 13 years as a Top Gear presenter.
Berry, though, admitted he was unsure whether that was the case, adding that in motorsports crashes were a regular feature, before a parting jab at the BBC’s later recruits as Top Gear hosts.
‘I have been at this for 42 years. Every single racer I know, and I know a lot of them, has had at least one biggie [big crash].
‘Some of them aren’t around any longer. I started out as a motorcycle journalist. I am from the Top Gear era where we all started out as journalists. That’s how they selected people.
‘They thought it was probably a good idea to let somebody who was expressing an opinion on a car or motorbike on television actually know what they were talking about rather than being the funny good looking one off Friends.
The former England cricket star turned TV presenter lost a significant portion of his lips
Flintoff was left with serious facial injuries and several broken ribs after a near-fatal car crash when he was filming Top Gear in December 2022
Flintoff has had to undergo extensive surgeries to his teeth and face since the accident
‘Call me old-fashioned, but that’s the way the BBC used to do business.
‘It’s just dangerous. Once you start messing about with cars and motorbikes, you’re rolling the dice every time you do it. I feel sorry for Freddie but that £9m must lighten the mood somewhat.’
Flintoff’s documentary reveals the extent of the grisly injuries he suffered in his crash, and tells of the surgeries he underwent afterwards.
Following the crash the ex-England captain details the anxiety he felt, before he was persuaded back into cricket by former team-mate and close friend Rob Key, the managing director of England men’s cricket.
‘When Andrew needed it most, cricket was there for him. Cricket saved him. It gave him a reason for being again,’ said Flintoff’s wife Rachael.
Flintoff is one of the greatest England cricketers of the 21st century, and his heroics as a talismanic all-rounder were crucial to the 2005 Ashes win.
