Jeremy Clarkson believed “he was done” in a frank admission before the success of Clarkson’s Farm, according to his best friend.
The 65-year-old was already famous around the world thanks to his stints presenting both BBC’s Top Gear and Prime Video’s The Grand Tour.
He then found further success with the hit documentary Clarkson’s Farm, also released by Prime Video, filmed at his Oxfordshire farm, Diddly Squat.
Yet, Mr Clarkson thought he was “done” prior to the show’s release, according to long-term collaborator and best friend Andy Wilman.
The producer of all three shows, and a schoolmate of Mr Clarkson’s, was being interviewed by Chris Moyles and Dominic Byrne on Radio X earlier today (Wednesday, November 19).
Mr Wilman revealed on the show that Mr Clarkson believed “he was done” and “would never have a hit again” before launching Clarkson’s Farm.
Speaking on The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X , he said: “Clarkson’s Farm, we never saw that one coming.
“That was absolutely out the blue. Jeremy never thought he was going to have another hit, you know? We were done.”
“And then we did this deal with Amazon. They made us… Music analogy: They made us, like, carry on working for them to make more Grand Tours, right?
“And we’re like, ‘Oh no, we’re done, we’re finished. We’ve run out of ideas.’
“And then, you know, like those ‘70s rock bands you like, the record company is going, ‘Sign again, sign again.’
“And as a sweetener, they give everyone a solo album deal. And they’re like, ‘we don’t care about your album, but we’ll pretend we do.’
“So, we all got a solo project as a sweetener, and Jeremy went, ‘I want to do life on my farm’.
“And if I had a quid for every exec who rang me and went, ‘Can you talk him out of it?’”
“So, I rang him. I was like, ‘Can you feel the knives in your back?’ And he’s like, ‘what?’ I was like, ‘Oh, the people are trying something to talk you out of it.’
“And he said, ‘I don’t blame them. I don’t blame them, because I’m crapping myself. It’s just going to be the most boring thing.’
“But we didn’t see that cast coming. They were all there, nobody auditioned, you know? Gerald, everybody.”
After hearing the story, Mr Moyles joked: “The more you talk, the more I’m starting to realise you’re not very good at your job.
“You’re just really fluky. You’ve just fallen into it.”
