To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff has shared new details about what he remembers from his Top Gear crash, revealing that his biggest fear in the moment was that he ‘wouldn’t have a face’.
On Friday, Disney Plus is releasing a new documentary – titled Flintoff – documenting the cricket legend’s accident, his illustrious career in his sport and on TV, and what the future holds for the national treasure.
In 2019, around a decade after retiring from cricket, Freddie began presenting Top Gear alongside Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, sharing his love of cars with fans and taking on daring stunts. It had been a dream of his to join the BBC programme.
However, in December 2022 he was involved in a life-altering accident at the show’s test track, Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey. In his new documentary, he revealed what went through his mind as the open-top car flipped over, and the split-second decision he made that prevented his death.
Freddie, 47, was previously resistant to the idea of making a documentary about his life, but following the crash, he wanted to go ahead with the project so that speculation about his injuries would stop.
He suffered multiple facial injuries and broken ribs in the accident, and was airlifted to hospital after around a 40-minute wait. In Disney Plus’ Flintoff, he went into more detail than ever before about what happened, with photos showing the extent of his facial wounds, including the rare loss of soft tissue.
‘I remember everything about it. In some ways it would’ve been easier if I’d gone unconscious and been unconscious for a week or two and you wake up and your stitches are out. But I remember everything,’ he said to the camera.
He explained the set-up of the open-top, three-wheel car that he was driving, which had a reinforced windscreen in front of him, while he was exposed above his head.
Recalling how he was probably going at 40 to 45mph, he said that he was being shown how to ‘get the car going sideways’ – but then, ‘the wheel came off at the front’.
‘It’s a funny thing rolling a car, because there’s a point of no return. And everything slows down. It’s so weird,’ he said.
‘I used to play cricket. I used to bat, and you get 0.4 of a second to make your mind up where the ball’s going, what shot you’re going to play, how you’re going to move your feet.
‘And as it started going over, I looked at the ground, and I knew, if I get hit here on this side, then I’ll break my neck. If I get hit on the temple, I’m dead. My best chance, is go face down.’
Freddie thought back to when his face hit the ground, touching his chin and then dragging his hand up his face to show where the injuries were sustained, where scarring is now visible over the wounds.
‘But then I got dragged out, the car went over, and I went over the back of the car, and then pulled face down on the runway for about 50 metres underneath the car. And then hit the grass and then flipped back in,’ he recollected.
At that moment, Freddie revealed that he ‘thought he was dead’, because he was conscious, but he couldn’t see anything.
‘I was thinking, is that it? Is that it, do you know what I mean? Just seeing black for the rest of my days,’ he said. But then he pulled his hat up from over his eyes, and confirmed to himself that he was on the track, realising: ‘This is not heaven.’
‘My biggest fear was, I didn’t think I had a face. I thought my face had come off. I was frightened to death,’ he said.
Dr Tom Breen, from the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex, attended to Freddie on the day of the crash, having received a call to the airfield in Surrey.
‘Freddie was clearly very shellshocked. He had quite a significant facial injury. I mean it wasn’t one, it was several and multiple,’ Dr Tom said in the documentary.
‘He was in a lot of pain, so we gave him some pain relief and we transported him to our leading major trauma centre, which is St George’s hospital.’
When Freddie was rushed to St George’s Hospital, he was seen by oral and maxillofacial surgeon Mr Jahrad Haq, who knew that the athlete’s case was severe when he received a call from the A&E consultant, as typically injuries are ‘managed at a more junior level before escalating to consultant’.
When asked how he would describe Freddie’s injuries when he first saw him, Mr Jahrad answered: ‘Complex.’
He then elaborated, stating: ‘His injuries, overall for the past 20 years of seeing maxillofacial trauma, I’d probably put up in the top five.’
A few days before the release of Flintoff on Disney Plus, Metro attended a screening in London for the documentary, where Freddie took part in a Q&A.
He admitted that one of the motivations for doing a programme with Disney was the amazement of seeing his picture alongside Star Wars on the streaming platform’s homepage, having been a huge fan since he was a kid.
He then added: ‘I feel very privileged to have played cricket professionally for 15 years, grow up around the game and experience some incredible highs, some incredible lows. But the one thing is, I tried to enjoy it. And then probably circumstance over the past two or three years, things changed a little bit, and then, rightly or wrongly, became more interesting. And there’s a bit more of a story to tell.’
Freddie emphasised that he wanted to have the opportunity to look back at his career and ‘some of the amazing people that I had the opportunity to play with, the amazing people that I got the opportunity to play against’, which he never thought would be the case.
‘I didn’t want an accident – although it keeps coming back to it in the documentary – to be the one thing that defines you, or that you’re remembered for. It’s something which happened, and it’s a constant struggle and a constant tug of war,’ he shared.
Addressing the audience at the end of the screening, Freddie admitted that he ‘wasn’t sure’ what he personally wanted to get out of the documentary.
‘I think when you lay yourself bare a little bit and you put something like this out there, you’re never quite sure if you’re doing the right thing. One of the things that I really enjoyed, actually, for the past two years, is, I wouldn’t say living under the radar, but living under a radar which I’ve not experienced for a long time,’ he said.
Addressing his return to cricket, as he’s now head coach for the England Men’s Lions, he continued: ‘Doing the job I do within cricket’s allowed me to do that. This is somewhere putting my head above the parapet, which I’m pretty nervous about doing.
‘I enjoy the cricket bits on this, and honestly, I wish it were a few more, and I appreciate that there’s a crash there as well, which people want to be spoken about. So it’s been a delicate balance for myself.’
Flintoff is due to be released on Friday April 25 on Disney Plus.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.