Just how important is Top Gear to the BBC?

The next episode of the show has been pulled from Sunday’s television schedule after the presenter was suspended after a “fracas with a producer”.

The fortunes of Top Gear are very much linked to the presence of Jeremy. The show has been sold to 214 countries and has a loyal following on social media reaching more than 15 million fans.

It existed long before Jeremy Clarkson, now 54, took the helm, but it is doubtful whether it has much of a future without him.

It was a rather staid motoring show – all pistons and petrol prices – for the first few years of its existence before Jeremy came on board.

It was axed but re-commissioned, largely due to Jeremy’s faith in the show, and it was rejuvenated by his blokeish broadcasting style which made people who didn’t care about cars love the show.

With Jeremy – and co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May – at the wheel, the show became a TV phenomenon playing to millions of viewers, selling DVDs and magazines by the tonne and filling out stadiums around the world with its live show.

Executives at Broadcasting House know Jeremy brings a different kind of viewer – the sort it often finds hard to reach – to the BBC and will not want to give their rivals a chance to take him off their hands easily.

Another problem is the complicated nature of the company – Bedder 6 – which makes the show.

The BBC have a 50% share in it, with Jeremy and executive producer Andy Wilman the other major shareholders.

It is a relationship that has made them all huge profits – in 2012 the annual report and accounts of BBC Worldwide – the corporation’s commercial arm – show it got a dividend of £4.5 million from Bedder 6.