Former Top Gear presenter Tiff Needell joins hosts Jason Plato and Dave Vitty on the award-winning podcast Fuelling Around to discuss his career and why he hasn’t bought a car in over 40 years.
Needell is best known for presenting BBC flagship show Top Gear from 1987 to 2001, alongside stars such as Jeremy Clarkson, Quentin Willson and Vicki Butler-Henderson.
The 72-year-old reveals all about his television career during the episode, what it was really like to work with Plato and racing in Formula 1.
Tiff Needell reveals impact of Freddie Flintoff’s Top Gear crash
During the podcast Needell revealed the story of filming a segment for an upcoming series of Top Gear, which will never air due to the BBC pulling the plug on the show after an accident involving Freddie Flintoff.
“I lost huge fame that was coming my way! I was back on Top Gear,” Needell explained.
“They had a little item, where they had a 70s, 80s and 90s Top Gear presenter, where I was with Chris Harris for the 90s section, there was Chris Goffey and there was Angela Rippon.
“We had to do two laps of the track in the wet, sliding around, and having a laugh. Then you had to do a stupid quiz in the middle where you lost time off your lap if you lost.
“But the opening shot for me was me arriving, getting out, and it was all ‘hail the great Tiff!’ from Freddie and that northern bloke (Paddy McGuinness). I was thinking corporates (after dinner speeches) are gonna be up now!
“But it will never be seen because it was on that (upcoming) series and is on the cutting room floor. I don’t even know if it’s been edited.”
Plenty more episodes of Fuelling Around to enjoy
Series eights engine is warming up, but if you haven’t listened to Fuelling Around before, you’ll be glad to know there’s a wealth of previous episodes from seven series for you to listen to.
A host of celebrity guests have littered the award-winning podcast that has so far produced a string of excellent shows to listen to.
You can also tune into Fuelling Around on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or various other platforms if you want to see what all the fuss is about.