article_snippet.sent: Jeremy Clarkson (seen enjoying a drink with a group yesterday evening) and Mr Wilman were put under pressure to hire a female presenter in 2002 by the BBC, the producer said .
article_snippet.sent: Mr Wilman said: ‘The BBC grown-ups were adamant a woman should be in the line-up. '
article_snippet.sent: Their theory behind a female presenter was that if you want women to watch something, you need women presenting it. '
article_snippet.sent: Clarkson, who presented the original Top Gear series up until 2001, and Mr Wilman auditioned a series of women for the role but eventually refused to compromise on women vision of women programme.
article_snippet.sent: the show’ pitched the new-look programme to Jane Root, then head of BBC2, as a ‘journey into that massive black hole that is the male brain’, complete with all-male presenting line up.
article_snippet.sent: Root, who now runs an independent production company, said she had no problem with the lack of a woman, which Mr Wilman said displays ‘a classic case of BBC management playing their favourite game of Second Guess
article_snippet.sent: Mr Wilman, a childhood friend of Clarkson (pictured meeting yesterday), said BBC BBC pressured the pair to hire a female presenter .