Jeremy Clarkson and Chris Evans could soon slug it out on the world stage amid rumours that Netflix wants to screen the new series of Top Gear.
The streaming television service is believed to be the frontrunner among several suitors for the revamped BBC motoring show, which would go toe-to-toe with Clarkson’s new series on Amazon Prime, one of Netflix’s closest rivals.
Evans and his co-host Matt LeBlanc, who starred as Joey Tribbiani in the US sitcom Friends, arrive on air with the new Top Gear on BBC Two in May. Clarkson will return with his co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May on Amazon Prime in the autumn.
Top Gear is popular across the world, particularly in the US. A source suggested that LeBlanc’s involvement had made the show more attractive to American audiences and to Netflix, which does most of its business there.
BBC executives are understood to have discussed screening plans with Netflix counterparts and several other TV companies at a television showcase in Liverpool last month.
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More than 700 senior television executives from around the world attend the annual event, which is hosted by BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial arm. The BBC declined to comment on “speculation”. Netflix did not respond to requests for comment.
Clarkson left the BBC last year after punching the producer Oisin Tymon in a row over dinner arrangements. Clarkson and the BBC agreed last month to pay more than £100,000 in a settlement.
Hammond and May left Top Gear after Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the director-general of the BBC, decided not to renew Clarkson’s contract because of the “unprovoked attack”.
Amazon spent a reported £160 million hiring the trio and Andy Wilman, their executive producer, for a rival series on Prime.
Joining Evans and LeBlanc on Top Gear will be Eddie Jordan, the former Formula 1 racing boss, and Sabine Schmitz, the German racing driver.
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Top Gear is the world’s most popular factual entertainment TV programme, with 350 million weekly viewers, according to Guinness World Records. Netflix has 75 million subscribers.