London - The cerebral actor Stephen Fry doesn’t come across as a typical petrolhead. But such is his love of cars that I hear he is being considered by the BBC as Jeremy Clarkson’s possible successor as Top Gear presenter.
He certainly fits the bill for BBC director of television Danny Cohen, who has been gunning for Clarkson for some time and suspended him following his “fracas” with a TV producer over the lack of a hot juicysteak.
Fry (above) is the politically correct antithesis to the blokeish, abrasive Sun columnist and, crucially, he already has an international profile so he would help maintain the quality of the brand and the programme’s annual £50 million receipts in overseas sales.
Fry, 57, has appeared on Top Gear twice and has been obsessed by classic cars ever since leaving university. He snapped up his first car in 1981 - a BMW 323i - with the proceeds from a beer commercial. He went on a buying spree and at one stage had three lock-ups in London and Norfolk.
“In the eighties and early nineties, I had 11 [cars],” says Fry. “All English and classics. There was an Aston Martin, Austin Healey, Farina-bodied MG Magnette, an Austin Westminster ... I had a Daimler Sovereign, then a V12 Jaguar, which I loved.”
The QI presenter then traded them all in for another classic - a black taxi cab, enabling him to drive round London incognito and avoid the attention of fans.
However, his driving skills leave a lot to be desired. He has been repeatedly prosecuted for speeding and became one of the few Top Gear guests not only to crash the Reasonably Priced Car, but to write it off.
His husband, Elliott Spencer, 27, was banned from driving for speeding at 162.5km/h last year after Fry told him to “put his foot down” as they rushed to a literary festival in an Aston Martin.
Will Cohen persuade Fry to put his foot down for Top Gear? Fry and the BBC declined to comment.
Daily Mail