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Top Gear back on TV with a bang BBC airs Top Gear crash footage
(about 22 hours later)
Footage of the crash that left TV presenter Richard Hammond fighting for his life will be aired for the first time as BBC Two's Top Gear returns. Footage of the crash that left TV presenter Richard Hammond fighting for his life has been aired for the first time as BBC Two's Top Gear returns.
Hammond left hospital just five weeks after his jet powered car came off a runway at 280mph. Hammond, 37, left hospital just five weeks after his jet-powered car came off a runway near York at 280mph.
He will discuss the incident with presenter Jeremy Clarkson on Sunday. He received a hero's welcome as he returned to the TV show on Sunday.
Hammond has also been filmed meeting up with the members of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance who flew him to hospital following his crash. He said experts who analysed footage of the crash said he had displayed the reactions of a fighter pilot.
Thousands of pounds were raised by Top Gear fans for the air ambulance in the wake of the rescue. Hammond suffered serious brain injuries in the crash at Elvington airfield after a tyre burst on the Vampire jet car causing it to skid and flip over.
Hammond, 37, told Radio Times he had to pass two hours of complicated mental tests before he won back his driving licence." The father-of-two, who has no memory of the crash, watched alongside Top Gear co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
"They were worried about flashbacks," he said. "I was like 'hang on, if I was strapped into a jet car on a runway maybe'." Hammond surprised doctors with his 'remarkable' recovery
While there was initially some doubt whether he would continue on the show, Hammond said the main obstacle has been everyone wanting to discuss the crash. Asked why he had attempted a final run in the car after having already reached speeds of 314mph, Hammond said: " I suppose it's like when you were playing outside as a kid and then your mum called you in for dinner. You'd always stay out for a bit longer..."
He said: "People ask 'what's it really like?' and you take a big breath to tell them. "And that's when you'd fall out the tree," Clarkson remarked.
"And then they're gone. Because it's all rather boring really. It was very touching when people wrote in, but I think now I just want to get on with the job." "As it happens, yes," Hammond said.
Top Gear goes out at 2000 GMT on BBC Two on 28 January. Assuring viewers he had not suffered long-term brain damage, he joked: "The only difference between me now, and before the crash, is I like celery now."
"I am fixed. I am completely fixed and normal," he said.
Gratitude
He went on to thank the staff in hospitals in Leeds and Bristol, who helped him "when I was being stuck back together", and the many members of the public who wrote to him while he was recovering.
Hammond has also been filmed meeting the members of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance who flew him to hospital following his crash.
Thousands of pounds was raised by Top Gear fans for the air ambulance service in the wake of the rescue.
Investigators have yet to give their verdict on the safety precautions taken by the programme.