James May has given fans an update on Jeremy Clarkson following the presenter’s “aggressive” prostate cancer diagnosis, which he revealed in the fifth season of Clarkson’s Farm.
The series depicted Clarkson sharing the news with his farm colleagues last summer, including an emotional Kaleb Cooper.
He’d kept the diagnosis private until the airing of the show’s final episode in June, and assured fans in a follow-up video that a PSA test in April showed no indication of cancer, and that he is now officially in remission.
May, with whom Clarkson hosted Top Gear and The Grand Tour, addressed his friend’s health during an appearance on Matt Allwright’s self-titled Channel 5 show on Wednesday (12 August).
“He’s fine, as far as I can tell,” said May. “I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago, and I think he’s over the hurdle.”
After Clarkson went public with the diagnosis, he admitted that the news “landed harder than I thought it would”, and he urged everyone to “please go and get checked”.
“It’s not uncomfortable, it’s not undignified, and it’s a no-brainer,” said Clarkson. “I did, and that’s why I’m sitting here talking to you 11 months down the line."
Speaking from a hospital bed in the season finale, Clarkson revealed he had experienced complications during treatment. He later told The Times these were caused when he resumed a course of tablets he had been taking for earlier vascular and cardiac problems without medical advice.
“That was horrific and it was all my own fault,” he confessed. "I’d been on drugs for heart issues and I had to come off them during the cancer treatment. Two or three weeks after the cancer operation, I thought I’d better put myself back on those blood thinners. Big mistake, huge.
“It [resulted in] a very big emergency in the middle of the night. I’m not even going to go into the treatment that was required as a result of that, because it was horrible. I didn’t ask a doctor, I just thought, ‘I’m sure it will be all right to go back on blood thinners’.”
The cancer diagnosis followed on from a heart procedure that Clarkson underwent in October 2024 in order to get fitted with two stents to improve blood flow.
Clarkson’s Farm chronicles the long-time television presenter and his team as they navigate the challenges of running Diddly Squat Farm near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
Both May and Clarkson are set to cameo in the new reboot of The Grand Tour, which has been launched with new hosts after the pair quit the series alongside Richard Hammond in 2024.
The trio will be replaced by train enthusiast and car expert Francis Bourgeois, and YouTube stars Thomas Holland and James Engelsman. The new season begins on 4 September.
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