BBC puts brakes on Jeremy Clarkson's rival ITV venture
The brakes have been put on plans for Jeremy Clarkson to take a new motoring show to ITV, after it was revealed his old BBC contract stops him making a rival car show on another UK channel.
A clause in his deal with the corporation stops Clarkson and his co-hosts, James May and Richard Hammond, from working on a similar show for two years.
They are free to make a different kind of show for ITV, but are thought more likely to go to an online broadcaster such as Amazon or Netflix, which are not covered by the clause.
The BBC declined to comment on the nature of the men's contracts and is recruiting new faces to join Chris Evans - who was unveiled as the new face of Top Gear last month - on a revamped version on the show.