BBC entertainment director Ed Havard confirmed the news at the Edinburgh TV Festival, saying that Top Gear will return and that further information will be provided shortly.
The announcement does not include a presenter lineup, production schedule or broadcast date. BBC Studios will produce the program.
The host rumors remain rumors
Jimmy Carr has been widely linked with the new version, while former England rugby player Joe Marler has also appeared in reports about possible presenters.
The BBC has confirmed neither name. Asked specifically about Carr, Havard said he would make a great host but declined to discuss talent.
That creates a useful dividing line around the announcement: a new Top Gear is confirmed; its reported presenting team is not.
The television show has been absent since Flintoff's crash
Andrew Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris were the most recent regular presenting trio.
Production stopped after Flintoff suffered serious facial and rib injuries in a crash at the Top Gear test track in December 2022. The BBC later announced that the program would be rested for the foreseeable future.
The television hiatus did not eliminate the brand. TopGear.com, the magazine, digital video and international activity continued under BBC Studios while the main show remained off air.
As recently as May 2026, BBC Studios was publicly saying there was no update on Top Gear TV while acknowledging that it continued exploring ways to develop the property.
Top Gear has rebuilt itself before
The original BBC motoring program dates back to 1977, but the version launched in 2002 transformed Top Gear into a very different kind of television show, combining reviews with large-scale challenges, travel and comedy.
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May became inseparable from that era before leaving the BBC in 2015. The program continued through several different combinations of presenters, including Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc and eventually Flintoff, McGuinness and Harris.
Those transitions established an awkward truth about the format. Cars may provide the structure, but Top Gear changes dramatically depending on who is standing beside them.
The next lineup carries more weight than usual
The BBC has not described major format changes for the return, nor has it said whether the new production should be understood as a straightforward continuation or a broader reset.
That makes the presenter decision particularly important. This is not a normal season arriving after a routine break; the show has been absent for years following an accident that fundamentally changed its previous production.
For the first time in a long while, the least speculative sentence about Top Gear is also the simplest one: the television show is coming back.
