Richard Hammond, former star of TV children's series Tales From the Riverbank and presenter of Top Gear and almost every television programme made since, has today hit back at critics who say that Top Gear is costing too much and needs to be more economically viable.
"Top Gear is still the best thing on the telly at the moment and its budgets are always carefully managed. To say we are wasteful or unrealistic is preposterous," said Hammond, taking a break from filming the "How much damage can we inflict on three gold-plated Bentleys with a bulldozer in a shopping mall in Dubai" challenge for the new series, which will also include the new feature "Celebrity arse-licking in exploding Ferraris with cocaine and lots of other very expensive things in the boot".
This comes at a time when the BBC, in a bid to save money, has sacked all staff but the director general, his chauffeur and the chef for the executive dining room, whose salaries will all be doubled.
