Top Gear is expected back on air next year when Richard is back to full strength.

Richard Hammond opens up about crash - Oct 23 2006
TV presenter Richard Hammond has told of his terrifying ordeal in the aftermath of his 300mph jet car crash that nearly killed him.

The Top Gear presenter spoke about how the crash caused a brain injury which saw him regress to a childlike state and left him in excruciating pain.

The 36-year-old crashed his Vampire car at 288mph at Elvington airfield, York, while filming for the show on September 20.

But in an interview in the Daily Mirror, he revealed that just 33 days later he is ready to go home and on course to make a 100% recovery - without having undergone surgery.

He said: "At first they said I’d be in hospital for 15 months. Yet here I am ready to go back home after five weeks. I’m so b***** lucky. I can’t believe it."

Seeing his family in hospital after the crash also caused him great anguish, while also being a source of great comfort.

He described his wife Mindy, 36, as "a rock", adding that she had kept calm despite all the pressures of the situation.

It was seeing his daughters Izzy, six, and Willow, three, that caused him the most heartache.

He tells of seeing Izzy’s eyes full of tears as she and her sister left the hospital, adding: "The lift was next to the ward reception and I’d be stood there, my eyes filling up and people looking at me and all I could do was try to smile.

"But inside I was in bits, knowing my poor little girl was so terribly upset."

Richard could be ’back to old self’ soon - Sept 28, 2020
Richard Hammond’s consultant neurosurgeon today predicted the TV star could be "back to his old self" within six months.

Stuart Ross was speaking after the Top Gear presenter was airlifted from Leeds General Infirmary, where he had been treated for eight days following his high speed crash in a jet-powered dragster.

The surgeon said: "He has had what I have already termed a significant brain injury.

"There is no getting around that."

But Mr Ross said his patient was "doing well".

And he added: "There comes a period now which is unfortunately slow and is difficult to get through. But there comes a period when he has to get over the injury.

"He has to rest and allow his brain to recover and that takes time. I’m sure that once that period is over he will be back to his old self."

Asked when that might be, Mr Ross said "in about six months’ time."

The neurologist went on to thank the staff at Leeds General Infirmary for their "skill and dedication" in getting Hammond to this stage.

He said the star was fortunate that the accident happened within a short distance of the hospital, which had specialist equipment and staff to help.

Mr Ross said he was "very optimistic" that the presenter would make a full recovery and the next stage was to support the brain so he could restore his normal thought processes.

Hammond donations overwhelm charity - Sept 24, 2020
Fans of Top Gear’s Richard Hammond have raised so much cash for an air ambulance charity in the wake of his high-speed dragster crash that he could end up with a new helicopter named after him, it has emerged.

As the presenter continues his remarkable recovery in hospital, an appeal for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) has now broken through the £140,000 barrier following a flurry of donations.

One person even left a single donation of £50,000.