Freddie Flintoff Top Gear car crash seen for first time as he recalls details 'vividly'

Feddie Flintoff's horrific Top Gear car crash has been seen on screen for the first time in a trailer for a tell-all documentary about his life. A preview of new 90-minute original documentary film Flintoff, sees discussing his “vivid” memories of the smash that left him with extensive facial injuries and 'lucky to be alive'.

In one shot, medics are seen attending to the injured sportsman at the side of the road with tyre skids showing how the three-wheeled car he was driving had veered catastrophically off track.

In the , Flintoff said: "I remember everything about it. It's so vivid. "This is what I'm left with... I wouldn't say I'm embracing them but I'm not trying to hide my scars."

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Speaking about his decision to release a tell-all documentary now, the sportsman said: "I’d lived under the radar for seven months, one of the real frustrations was the speculation, that’s why I’m doing this now. What actually happened?"

"I was a shy kid growing up, they start calling me Fred and then I found this alter-ego," he explains while recalling his rise to fame as an England cricketer and tabloid favourite.

His life changed for ever in December 2022 when he crashed his car driving an open-topped three-wheeled Morgan Super 3 at high speed for Top Gear when it flipped over.

The presenter sustained broken ribs and serious facial injuries while filming a stunt for the show. Flintoff's son Corey, revealed at the time, his father was “lucky to be alive”

Freddie previously told how he was "crying every two minutes" for weeks after the horror crash, as well as having flashbacks and nightmares about the near death experience when he tried to sleep.

Former presenter Chris Harris said he had expressed concerns about the stunt before Freddie got in the car. Discussing Flintoff's accident, Harris said: "He wasn't wearing a crash helmet. And if you do that, even at 25, 30 miles an hour, the injuries that you sustain are profound.

Harris said the crash happened as Flintoff was driving a three-wheeled supercar."It's a very, difficult car," he said. "You have to be aware of its limitations. And I think that really was difficult, and you need experience. There were two people that had driven a Morgan three-wheeler before present that day - me and someone else, a pro driver.

"And we were sitting inside at that time. No one had asked us anything about the car. They'd just gone on and shot it without us."

Harris arrived on the scene shortly after the crash. He told Rogan: “I remember the radio message that I heard. I heard someone say this has been a real accident here. The car’s upside down. So I ran to the window, looked out and he wasn't moving."

The accident was not the first Flintoff has suffered since he first began presenting the show.The father-of-four crashed into a market stall in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire in February 2019.

In September of the same year, he also crashed during a drag race while he was filming at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, but walked away unharmed. In June 2022, Flintoff was racing in a bobsleigh at a course in Norway when it flipped over, but he again came out of the crash unscathed.

James Corden also features in the new Disney documentary alongside Freddie's wife - who says in the trailer that her life also changed forever after the crash.

Speaking his BBC series a Field Of Dreams, Freddie broke down in tears and said he "should not be here" after his Top Gear horror crash left him with severe injuries and anxiety so bad he couldn't leave his home for months.

Speaking about the December 2022 accident, Freddie told how he was "crying every two minutes" for weeks after, as well as having flashbacks and nightmares about the near death experience when he tried to sleep.

The former cricketer relives the pain in a new TV documentary which includes a video he filmed at home when his facial injuries were at their worst and he is seen badly scarred and still on edge.

With emotion in his voice, Freddie tells the camera: "Week and a half after my accident. Genuinely should not be here after what happened. This is going to be a long road back and I have only just started and I am struggling already. I need help. I really am not the best at asking for it. I need to stop crying every two minutes."

He reached a settlement with the BBC last year, reportedly worth £9m. The payout was not funded by the TV licence fee, as BBC Studios is a commercial arm of the broadcaster.

Flintoff had joined BBC One's Top Gear as a host in 2019 alongside and Chris Harris. But the show has now been axed following the accident.

In March 2023, the BBC apologised to Flintoff. At the time they said: In a statement, the BBC said: "We have sincerely apologised to Freddie and will continue to support him with his recovery.

"We understand this [halting the show] will be disappointing for fans, but it is the right thing to do, and we'll make a judgement about how best to continue later this year." The show has never returned.

Before becoming a big TV star, Flintoff retired from a career in in 2009 having played 79 Tests, 141 one-day internationals and seven T20s for England. He played a key role in England's Ashes successes of 2005 and 2009.

The documentary, directed by John Dower, will air on April 25 on Disney+.