Jeremy Clarkson 'working on new TV show': Top Gear star touting Countryfile-style programme ahead of BBC inquiry

Report suggests the presenter is already considering himself 'sacked'

Jeremy Clarkson has been offered a bizarre role in a Russian comedy (Rex Features)

Those who thought the Stig delivering the 1million signature Bring Back Clarkson petition to the BBC in a tank was the peak of the “fracas” silliness, think again.

The Times are now quoting a source as saying that the Top Gear presenter, who is yet to hear his fate at a disciplinary inquiry set to be held at the end of the week, is already thinking of himself as a man for hire and has even started to pitch new TV shows.

One of which, according to the report, sounds stunningly like Man v Countryfile.

“In the last week [Jeremy] has had a chance to firm it up,” the insider apparently told the paper.

“It’s about trying to run a farm when you don’t know anything about farming, and... getting things wrong, in a Top Gear-esque way.”

The concept would be to look at the challenges farmers and agricultural workers face in the modern world.

Clarkson is thought to have originally pitched the idea to George Entwistle, the BBC’s then director general, in 2012. The Times alleges the project ended because the two failed to agree on a location.

The news comes as four live Top Gear performances in Stavanger, Norway, due to be held on 27 and 28 March, have been cancelled.

About 18,000 tickets, costing up to £100, for the shows had been sold.