Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson suspended by BBC over 'fracas' with producer

Top Gear stalwart Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC "following a fracas" with a producer. The BBC will not show Top Gear on 15 March as a result.

A statement regarding the incident said: "Following a fracas with a BBC producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation. No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday. The BBC will be making no further comment at this time."

The 54-year-old TV presenter was issued his final warning in 2014 after he seemingly used the N-word when reciting the Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe nursery rhyme while filming a segment for the BBC2 show.

Clarkson released a statement in May 2014, in which he "begged for forgiveness" after he used the offensive word. The BBC also described the incident as "regrettable".

The BBC's director of television, Danny Cohen, subsequently ordered a review of the show's culture and practices. Clarkson, meanwhile, wrote in the Mirror he would lose his job at the BBC if he made "one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time".

However, more controversy followed Clarkson in October 2014. As the Top Gear crew were filming in Argentina for a special show near the town of Ushuaia, they were pelted by stones with locals seemingly enraged by the H982 FKL on Clarkson's Porsche number plate – which was interpreted as being a reference to the 1982 Falklands War between the UK and Argentina.

Clarkson's days at the BBC have looked numbered for some time now and several weeks earlier, on 25 February, he humorously took to Twitter to state that his job could soon be up for grabs.