Freddie Fintoff: insider issues update on when Top Gear may return following Flintoff accident

Top Gear has been on hiatus since filming for the 34th series was axed after the 45-year-old former cricketer suffered a crash in December 2022.

Freddie was left with facial injuries, broken ribs and reported psychological trauma when the car he was driving veered off the road at 130mph at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey.

Since filming was halted, there has been no news yet as to when Top Gear will return but this week, sources have told the Daily Mail that Top Gear's future will be decided 'after a health and safety review into the show is concluded'.

In March 2023, BBC studios announced that a health and safety investigation would be conducted “in line with [their] procudures” but there have been no updates as to the progress of this.

Top Gear’s future was thrown into further doubt when its editorial director, Clare Pizey, quit just last month.

This speculation over when Top Gear may return comes just a week after Freddie was photographed publically for first time since the accident as he attended the first Metro Bank One Day International between England and New Zealand.

The father of four is also reportedly set to return to our screens even before the revival of Top Gear with a source telling The Mirror that Freddie “is gearing up to get back to work” on the second series of Field of Dreams.

Stating that filming will begin this winter, the source added: “We know how much this series meant to him. It was a passion project that was also loved by the viewers, so it's great it will mark his return to the screen after what must have been an extraordinarily difficult time.”

Freddie has also been exercising his coaching skills on a more national scale recently, having unofficially joined England’s backroom team in an unpaid capacity for four ODIs against New Zealand this month.

Current England cricketer Liam Livingstone recently told PA: “To have someone of his experience lingering around the dressing room is great for all the lads.”