Turbo-charged Jeremy Clarkson reveals he has received no “finger-wagging” on his new Amazon show

The former Top Gear presenter, who was dismissed by the BBC following his altercation with one of the show’s producers, has revealed today that his new bosses at Amazon Prime have given him licence to speak freely and enjoy some of the fastest and best cars on the planet.

Writing in his Sunday Times motoring column, he says that after his dismissal he was wooed by Amazon bosses who introduced him and co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond to “the dizzying world of narrowcasting, in which you can upload a programme when it’s ready, not necessarily at 7pm on a Tuesday".

And, in another veiled dig at his former BBC bosses, he adds: “And you can say what you want, because out there, in the free world, there’s no Ofsted. There’s no finger-wagging.”

The presenter also reveals that the picture of his first day of filming the new show, which he tweeted out last week, was taken in Portugal where he, James May and Richard Hammond have been testing out a Ferrari, a Porsche 918 and a McLaren P1.

He discloses that car testing glamorous motors will be central to his new show which will feature some fresh ideas from the production team – but not some of the favourite sections from Top Gear.

“All of the previous ingredients – the Stig, the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car and the Cool Wall – belonged to the BBC so we’d have to start from scratch.

“It forced us to get creative. To do what we’d never dared to do in the past: to change what we knew worked.”

Clarkson also discloses that after being told of his dismissal in a telephone call from BBC creative director Alan Yentob, he considered doing nothing or even making a "programme on farming".

However he adds that he is optimistic about what's to come. “Whatever the outcome, we are now in the future. It certainly feels that way from where I’ve been sitting all day.”