Since his rise to fame through the 1977 motoring magazine programme Top Gear
, which he joined as a presenter in 1988, Clarkson's tongue-in-cheek presenting and writing style, Caustic Criticism, and his actions on and off-camera has provoked many different public reactions, some of which have put him in quite hot water. His influence even led Top Gear to become one of The BBC's most popular shows; in fact, after his departure from the show in 1999, viewership steadily declined until the BBC cancelled the show in 2001.
But the following year after, Clarkson and his friend Andy Wilman, another former co-presenter of Top Gear, got the BBC to relaunch Top Gear under a new studio format, hiring "Old" Top Gear and Clarkson fanboy Richard Hammond and fellow motoring journalist Jason Dawe to be his co-presenters, with Wilman as a producer. Needless to say, the new Top Gear was a big success. After Dawe was replaced by James May (who also briefly co-presented the "old" Top Gear in 1999) in series 2, and the mysterious test driver known as the Stig was introduced in the same series, Top Gear would establish itself as arguably the world's most popular motoring show thanks partly to Clarkson.
However, in March 2015, Clarkson's time on the show ended during series 22 when he punched and verbally abused Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon over not being served steak at a hotel in Hawes, North Yorkshire (where they were filming on location) because the chef had gone home by then. Since Clarkson's contract expired at the end of the month, the BBC decided to withdraw a previously proposed three-year renewal. Later that year, it was announced that Clarkson, along with Hammond and May, would present a new show for Amazon Studios as part of Amazon Video (today Prime Video), which would be titled The Grand Tour the following year. The Grand Tour ran for three seasons from 2016 to 2019 under a studio format before switching to feature-length specials from that year onwards. Additionally, since 2018, Clarkson has also presented the revival of the iconic British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
Partial filmography:
- Top Gear (1988–2000; 2002–2015): Presenter
- Robot Wars (1998): Presenter (series one)
- Have I Got News for You (2002, 2005–08, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015): Guest presenter (twelve episodesnote ); also served as a guest panellist at times
- Who Do You Think You Are? (2004): Participant (series one, episode four)
- QI (2004–2016): Guest panellist (fourteen episodesnote )
- Never Mind the Buzzcocks (2006): Guest host (one episode)
- Cars (2006): Harv (UK release)
- Forza: As Himself (voiceover)
- Forza Motorsport 4 (2011)
- Forza Motorsport 5 (2013)
- Phineas and Ferb (2014): Adrian (voice; "Live and Let Drive")
- The Grand Tour (2016–present): Presenter
- Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (2018–present): Presenter
- Clarkson's Farm (2021–present): Presenter
Tropes
- Baritone of Strength: He has the deepest voice of the three main hosts, and it lends itself to some iconically hilarious one-liners.
- The Big Guy: Put him next to May and especially Hammond, and he easily towers over the both of them.
- Deadpan Snarker: He rivals James May in this regard.
- Fantastic Racism: When it comes to Top Gear and The Grand Tour, most of his comments about certain countries (particularly the United States) and car companies tend to poke fun at their expense. Averted in reality, as despite some of his more... "controversial" word choices, he's generally amicable and respectful when he feels it.
- Large Ham: Two words: "SSPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!" and "POOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!"
