Top Gear could be fronted by a woman, BBC2 boss says

BBC2 controller Kim Shillinglaw said she was not ruling out the possibility of recruiting a woman to host the motoring show

Jeremy Clarkson with his Top Gear mates, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig (BBC)

Top Gear will return in a new form next year – and the BBC has not ruled out the possibility of a woman fronting the show.

BBC2 controller Kim Shillinglaw said she was not thinking of Jeremy Clarkson’s replacement “in terms of gender”.

“I worked with a lot with female presenters and when I used to work in science that was something across the piste that I really wanted to tackle,” Shillinglaw said.

“But I don't think I've ever approached an individual show thinking that was the way I want to cast it so I think it's an open book on that.

"We'll definitely look at some women, but it's not a driving priority."

Sue Perkins and Jodie Kidd are among the biggest female names to have been put forward as contenders to replace Clarkson.

The Great British Bake Off co-presenter was forced to leave Twitter after receiving death threats from men following reports that she would be replacing Clarkson on the show.

Other bookies’ favourites to host the show include former X Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary, actor Philip Glenister and motorcycle racer Guy Martin.

Clarkson has said he is already planning another TV project after being dismissed by the BBC following a ‘fracas’ on the Top Gear set with the show’s producer.

He wrote in his column for the Sunday Times: “I have lost my baby but I shall create another.

"I don't know who the other parent will be or what the baby will look like, but I cannot sit around anymore organising my photograph album."

Clarkson also revealed he was told he "probably" had cancer, two days before the altercation on set, which he described as the most stressful day he had had in his 27 years at the BBC.