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BBC Won't Show Top Gear Cenotaph Stunt
The BBC says it wont show footage of Matt LeBlanc doing donuts near the Cenotaph on Whitehall.
It comes after Chris Evans apologised “unreservedly” after his Top Gear co-host was filmed with a professional rally driver performing the stunt near the memorial.
Referring to pictures printed in newspapers, Evans told his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show audience: "They look entirely disrespectful, which of course was not and would never be the intention of the Top Gear team, or Matt [LeBlanc]."
"It does not look good at all. There have been some completely incendiary comments written alongside these pictures and I completely understand all this furore, but the Top Gear team would never, ever, do that."
"Retrospectively it was unwise to be anywhere near the Cenotaph with this motorcar.”
Matt LeBlanc posing with the Mustang in Canary Wharf. Picture: Matt LeBlanc
In a statment the BBC said: "The Cenotaph was at no point intended to feature in the programme and therefore will not appear in the final film."
"However, we are acutely aware of how some of the images in the press look today via the angle and distance they were taken and for which, as Chris Evans has already said, we sincerely apologise."
"We would like to make it absolutely clear that the Top Gear team has the utmost respect for the Cenotaph, what it stands for, and those heroic individuals whose memory it serves so fittingly."
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the stunt was “gravely disrespectful” and likened the memorial to a “cemetery”.
He said he didn’t want to see any clips featuring the memorial in the show. Col Kemp added:
"People like Matt LeBlanc and other stars of Top Gear could never give to this country, or their own country, what those who have died fighting for it have given and I think a degree of respect is due to them."
One fan got a glimpse of a stunt on Saturday.
Just wish I could get a little closer!! @BBC_TopGear@Matt_LeBlancpic.twitter.com/ecCaXA9ohN
— Zoë Balkwell (@ZoeBalkwell) March 12, 2016
The former Friends actor LeBlanc was in the high-powered Ford Mustang with rally driver Ken Block.
However, a Top Gear spokesman claimed the images taken by the paparazzi made it appear as though the filming had taken place closer than it actually had and said the filming had been "agreed with Westminster Council in advance".
The filming is for the first series of the show since the widely publicised departure of Jeremy Clarkson and his fellow presenters, James May and Richard Hammond.
Matt LeBlanc's view from inside the Mustang. Picture: Matt LeBlanc
Conservative MP and member of the British royal Legion, Andrew Bridgen, called for an inquiry saying:
"Jeremy Clarkson was certainly no saint, but I don’t believe he would have ever performed a stunt in such bad taste."
"I think it is extremely distasteful and disrespectful, and I would like to know who thought it was a good idea to authorise this."
The high-powered Ford Mustang performing donuts at Goodwood in 2015.
Chancellor George Osborne was also disturbed by the commotion as he prepared his Budget for Wednesday.
Trying to write my Budget,despite noisy episode of @BBC_TopGear being filmed outside on Horseguards Parade. Keep it down please @achrisevans
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) March 13, 2016
On Saturday, LeBlanc and Block were filmed interrupting a wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral as they performed stunts near the steps.
Filming on the new £650,000-an-episode return has closed roads in the capital for two days, leaving tyre marks outside the Houses of Parliament and in Whitehall.
Cover image: Matt LeBlanc and rally driver Ken Block. Picture: Matt LeBlanc
Forces TV is available on Sky 264, Virgin 277 and Freesat 652.
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