Jeremy Clarkson suspended from Top Gear

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC following a "fracas" with a show producer.

The British broadcaster issued a statement saying the controversial host was suspended "pending an investigation". "No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday," the statement said.

Clarkson, 54, was given what he called his "final warning" last year after using the n-word in unseen footage. He said the BBC had told him he would be fired if he made "one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time".

Former Top Gear presenter Chris Goffey told BBC Radio 5 live that "it must have been something fairly serious behind the scenes to warrant his immediate suspension."

He said: "I can't think what the hell's gone on, but there you go. When you've got a very strong character who likes things his own way, if somebody stands up to him, there's going to be a row." The BBC has not provided further detail about the "fracas".

While Clarkson has not commented on his latest drama, he tweeted last month that a new host for the TV show was needed.

Clarkson is known for treading a very fine line between comedy and offensiveness on the hugely-popular car program

"Wanted: new presenter for Top Gear. Applicant should be old, badly dressed and pedantic but capable of getting to work on time," he wrote.

Clarkson is known for treading a very fine line between comedy and offensiveness on the hugely-popular car program. Last year, the well-paid presenter sparked a new racism row after being filmed reciting a racist version of a children's counting rhyme.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a n****r by his toe," Clarkson mumbled in footage which was edited out of the final program, the Mirror reported.

While Clarkson admitted to reciting the poem, he denied that he used the n-word in a filmed statement broadcast by the BBC. "I was mortified by this. It is a word I loathe," he said.

In October last year, Clarkson and the Top Gear crew fled Argentina after being pelted with rocks over a controversial licence plate. Trouble erupted after it emerged the team were using a Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL, which some people suggested could refer to the Falklands conflict of 1982.

"I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan, but this was the most terrifying thing I've ever been involved in," Clarkson said. "There were hundreds of them. They were hurling rocks and bricks at our cars." Clarkson and the BBC denied claims they'd deliberately requested a car with those licence plates.

Britain's broadcasting watchdog criticised the BBC last year after Clarkson used an "offensive racial term" in an episode in Myanmar.

Regulator Ofcom said that Clarkson's use of the word "slope" as slang for a person of Asian origin, was potentially offensive and that the BBC had failed in its duty to viewers by broadcasting it.

The show has previously gotten into hot water over its unflattering depictions of Albanians, Romanians and Germans and calling Mexicans "lazy and flatulent".