Top Gear Cenotaph stunt: Chris Evans says footage should be cut

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Media captionFootage of a stunt filmed near a London war memorial has sparked criticism

Footage of a Top Gear stunt filmed near the Cenotaph in London over the weekend should not be broadcast, presenter Chris Evans has said.

His fellow host on the show Matt LeBlanc and a professional driver performed "doughnuts" near the war memorial in Whitehall.
Speaking on Monday morning, Evans said: "That footage will definitely not go on the air, no question about it."
"We're all mortified... so absolutely, 100% it should not be shown," he added.

Later in the same interview, he clarified he does not have final say over which scenes will be broadcast, but said he suspected that other members of the production team would agree the footage should be left out.
"It's not my decision, but if it was my decision then I would say that particular scene shouldn't be shown, and I think that everybody will agree," he said.

Council response

A spokesman for Westminster City Council said in a statement: "What the Top Gear team did on the day was not what had been agreed during the planning process.
"At no time had the BBC producers made Westminster City Council aware that the car was going to be doing anything but drive down Whitehall. There was no discussion about wheel spins and a doughnut and permission would not have been given to do so."
The spokesman added: "We have spoken to the producers today to express our disappointment and we welcome the statement from Top Gear presenter Chris Evans who has said this footage will not be shown.
"We are very sorry for any upset that has been caused and will be strengthening our procedures to make sure that film and TV production companies will not deviate from pre-agreed plans in the future."
On Monday morning, Evans apologised on air during his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show.

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Media captionChris Evans: "If it was my decision I would say that scene shouldn't be shown"

Referring to photos of the stunt printed in newspapers, Evans said he wanted to "apologise unreservedly for what these images seem to portray".
"They look entirely disrespectful, which of course was not and would never be the intention of the Top Gear team, or Matt [LeBlanc]."
Evans made the apology on Monday morning during his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show.
"Doughnuts" - which have previously been performed many times on Top Gear - usually involve rotating the rear of a car around the front, a technique caused by making the rear wheels of a car spin more quickly than the front set.
They often leave circular skid marks on the road and sometimes cause smoke to emit from tyres due to friction.
"The images on the front pages of the papers today - it doesn't matter what actually happened - what is important is what these images look like," he said.
"It does not look good at all. There have been some completely incendiary comments written alongside these pictures and I completely understand all this furore, but the Top Gear team would never, ever, do that.
"Retrospectively it was unwise to be anywhere near the Cenotaph with this motorcar," he added.

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These images demonstrate how the use of perspective in a photograph can lead to the distance between objects being expanded or compressed, so they appear either further apart or closer together than they actually are.

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Evans's comments came the morning after a former British military commander criticised the stunt during an interview to BBC Radio 5 live.
Col Richard Kemp told Stephen Nolan the war memorial should be shown "respect".
Col Kemp likened the Cenotaph to a "cemetery" and said he did not want to see any clips featuring the memorial in the final edit.
He added it "does not need to have people screaming around in cars and generating smoke from their tyres all over it".
A Top Gear spokesman said images taken by paparazzi made it look like filming had taken place closer than it had in reality.
The BBC also said the filming had been "agreed with Westminster Council in advance".

 

Image caption Chris Evans (right) said it was "unwise" to have filmed the stunt near the cenotaph

But Col Kemp said: "People like Matt LeBlanc and other stars of Top Gear could never give to this country, or their own country, what those who have died fighting for it have given and I think a degree of respect is due to them."
Sir Roger Moore has also criticised the Top Gear team for filming near the Cenotaph.
The former James Bond actor tweeted: "I was brought up to respect those who laid down their lives for this country. Shame on Top Gear and the BBC."
Earlier on Sunday, Chancellor George Osborne gave the Top Gear team a playful ticking off for making too much noise near Downing Street while he was writing the Budget.
The chancellor, who will deliver his eighth Budget on Wednesday, tweeted that a "noisy episode" was taking place near Horse Guards Parade on Sunday.

Perry McCarthy, who was The Stig in the first two series of Top Gear fronted by Jeremy Clarkson, said Chris Evans's view that the footage shouldn't be shown was "disappointing".
He told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's a question of perspective. It's a stunt. It brings the centre of London, a beautiful part of London and the Cenotaph, to a worldwide audience. It was a respectful distance away from it.
"The one shared opinion we all have is what the Cenotaph is there for, who we are remembering. There is no problem there of course. But come on, lighten up everybody."
LeBlanc and rally driver Ken Block also appeared to gatecrash a wedding at St Paul's Cathedral on Saturday, although it later transpired that this was staged by actors for the show.
The new series of the BBC Two programme is due to start in May.

Image caption Matt LeBlanc said he was "cruising round Parliament Square with a buddy"