Freddie Flintoff has shared how difficult it was to cope with the anxiety he suffered following his horror Top Gear crash, which left him with ‘nightmares’ and ‘flashbacks’.
In December 2022, the pro cricket player was airlifted to hospital and said to be ‘lucky to be alive’ after an accident at the Top Gear test track during filming at Dunsfold Aerdrome in Surrey.
He suffered from severe facial injuries and broken ribs, and had been driving an open-topped car at a reportedly high speed of 130mph when it flipped and slid along the track.
Having kept a low profile in the months that followed, Freddie is returning to screens for the first time with a new series of Field of Dreams, where he not only shows the physical injuries he suffered from, including cuts across his nose, chin and forehead, but also the mental scars he continued to deal with months later.
Filming seven months after the crash, he says in the first episode of the new series: ‘I thought I could just shake it off, I wanted to shake it off, and say, “here I am, I’m alright,” but it’s not been a case of that, it’s been much harder than I thought.
‘As much as I wanted to go out and do things, I’ve just not been able to.’
Having left his house very little since the crash, but preparing to travel across the world for the series, he says: ‘I don’t want to sit here and feel sorry for myself, and I don’t want sympathy, but it’s going from being here for seven months and then going to India, the other side of the world.’
‘I struggle with anxiety, I have nightmares, I have flashbacks, it’s so hard to cope.’
Encouraging himself, he adds: ‘I’ve got to get on with it.’
Freddie also records himself with a clip during his recovery showing his injuries, between various facial operations, as he tells the camera: ‘I’ve got to look at the positives.’
‘I’ve got another chance, I’ve got a go at it, I’m seeing that as how it is – a second go,’ he adds.
The BBC series is a sequel to the 2022 programme where Freddie transformed a group of teenagers from his home town in Preston, Lancashire, into a cricket team.
Now, he takes them across the world to India, to step outside their comfort zones, but also his own.
The trip had been planned before the Top Gear accident, and was delayed due to Freddie’s recovery.
‘This India trip will be for me as much as it is for them now, I’m determined, I really want to go,’ he says.
However, despite his determination, Freddie admits that he doesn’t think he’ll ever be ‘100%’ again.
When asked by a member of his team how he feels, and if he’s feeling 100%, he replies: ‘Not really, I don’t know if I will again to be honest. I’m better than I was.
‘I don’t know what completely better is, I am what I am now.
‘I’m different to what I was, it’s something I’ll have to deal with the rest of my life, so better? No, different.’
While Freddie has returned to the BBC for his cricketing programme, Top Gear has been taken off air for the foreseeable future.
The BBC announced it would be pausing production on the hit motoring series, co-presented by Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness and automotive journalist Chris Harris, as it was felt it would be ‘inappropriate’, adding there would be a health and safety review.
In a statement last November, the BBC said: ‘Given the exceptional circumstances, the BBC has decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future.
‘The BBC remains committed to Freddie, Chris and Paddy who have been at the heart of the show’s renaissance since 2019, and we’re excited about new projects being developed with each of them.
‘We will have more to say in the near future on this. We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do.’
Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams On Tour airs Tuesday, August 13, at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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