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Andrew Flintoff says Top Gear crash caused ‘anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks’

Andrew Flintoff says Top Gear crash caused ‘anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks’

Andrew Flintoff struggled with anxiety, suffered “nightmares and flashbacks” and “cried every two minutes” after being seriously injured in a high-speed car crash while filming Top Gear.

The former England all-rounder revealed he only left his home for medical appointments in the seven months following the crash at Dunsfold Airport in Surrey in December 2022, which left him with facial and rib injuries.

The comments appear in a new BBC documentary, Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour, in which the 46-year-old leads a group of youngsters from his hometown of Preston on a cricket tour of India.

Speaking about the accident for the first time on the programme, Flintoff said: “I don’t want to sit around feeling sorry for myself, I don’t want to sympathise but it’s like going to India after being here for seven months.

“As much as I want to go out and do something, I just can’t.

“I’ve been struggling with anxiety, having nightmares, having flashbacks, it’s been very difficult to deal with.

“But I feel like if I don’t do something I’ll never get going. I have to keep going.”

Following the incident, the BBC announced that Top Gear had been “put on hold” for the foreseeable future.

I’m still here, I have another chance, I gotta try. I see it for what it is, a second try

Andrew Cakmak

Flintoff has gradually returned to public duties, joining England’s coaching staff for the T20 series against the West Indies earlier this year and serving as head coach of the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred.

The documentary shows the former Lancashire all-rounder lying in hospital shortly after the accident, where he says it will be a “long road back” but adds he is looking forward to seeing his youth cricket team again.

“I really shouldn’t be here after what happened. I need help and I realise I’m not the best at asking for it. I need to stop crying every two minutes,” she said.

“I have to look at the positives, right?

Freddie Flintoff's Field Of Dreams On Tour will see the star play in India with a young cricket team from his homeland (BBC/PA)
Freddie Flintoff’s Field Of Dreams On Tour will see the star play in India with a young cricket team from his homeland (BBC/PA)

“I’m still here, I have one more chance, I have to try. I see it for what it is, a second try.”

Flintoff said he thought he would “get through this easily” but things turned out to be “a lot harder than he thought”.

“I’m better than I used to be,” he said. “I don’t know what it means to be completely better. Who I am now, I’m different than who I was, that’s something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life.”

:: Freddie Flintoff’s album Field Of Dreams On Tour will be broadcast on BBC One at 9pm on 13 August and will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.