Paddy McGuinness ‘glad’ Andrew Flintoff is back on screens again

By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter

Former Top Gear presenter Paddy McGuinness has said he is “glad” to see Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff back on TV screens again.

His former co-star Flintoff, 46, was taken to hospital in December 2022 after he was left with facial and rib injuries in a crash at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.

In November 2023 the BBC announced the motoring programme would be “rested” for the foreseeable future in the wake of the accident, but added that there would be “new projects” for McGuinness, Flintoff and Chris Harris.

Former England cricket captain Flintoff is now fronting BBC documentary series Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour, two years after transforming the lives of teenagers in Preston in series one.

Asked if he was “delighted” to see Flintoff back on screen, McGuinness told Good Morning Britain (GMB): “When we did Top Gear, we’re that close, you’re together all the time.

“You’re going around the world and everything else, you have a real bond.

“And seeing him do stuff like that again, you’re glad he’s getting back into it and back at it again.”

McGuinness, 51, who also hosted ITV dating show Take Me Out, spoke about his new road trip programme with Harris where they head to Europe, to look at how our European neighbours grow old.

He said they travelled to an island where everyone smoked “like chimneys” and lived into their 90s and learned that the key to living a long life there was to reduce stress levels.