Jim Davidson: 'I'd love to host Top Gear but I'm banned from driving'

Former TV presenter reveals his love of the show during a grilling from James O’Brien

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
Monday 30 March 2015 10:20 BST
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Jim Davidson has expressed his love of Top Gear
Jim Davidson has expressed his love of Top Gear

Jim Davidson has admitted that he’d “love” to take over as the new Top Gear host – if he wasn’t “always banned from driving”.

The BBC has yet to announce a replacement for Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear since the presenter’s contract was not renewed following the infamous “fracas”, though a host of celebrities have been suggested as suitable replacements since the incident, including Keanu Reeves.

Davidson’s own remarks expressing his wish to host the motoring programme came during an interview on ITV’s new daytime political talk-show, O’Brien, which sees journalist James O’Brien grill politicians, journalists, celebrities and campaigners in the run up to the general election.

O’Brien quizzes Davidson on his past and described the comedian as a “poster boy for political correctness”.

Davidson, who won Celebrity Big Brother last year, said he’d like to “get rid of political correctness” and replace it with “courtesy and politeness”.

“I think political correctness just fuels the bigots, the more it’s rammed down your throat to more you tend to rebel.”

When O’Brien asks whether Davidson considers himself racist or not, citing a character he used to play called “Chalky”, the former Big Break host responds that he only developed the character of Chalky because “I could to a West Indian accent”.

He insists that “Chalky was a character I made to be loved, not to ridicule black people”.

Speaking of his absence from TV as a presenter, Davidson says that “everyone has a shelf life and you move on”.

But when O’Brien quips that “there’s a job going on Top Gear,” Davidson replies: “I’d love to do it but I’m always banned from driving,” though he did not reveal the reason why.

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