James May has ruled out making a Top Gear return without Jeremy Clarkson.

The presenter has told The Guardian that the idea of himself and Richard Hammond continuing on the show with a “surrogate Jeremy” would be “lame” and the idea was a “non-starter.”

Clarkson was dropped from the motoring show following a scandal surrounding his abuse of a show producer.

May said he hopes to continue with the BBC and would return to the show one day in the event Clarkson was to return.

“Me and Hammond with a surrogate Jeremy is a non-starter, it just wouldn’t work. That would be lame, or ‘awks’ as young people say,” May said.

“It has to be the three of us. You can’t just put a surrogate Jeremy in and expect it to carry on. It would be forced. I don’t believe they would be stupid enough to try that.

“It doesn’t mean I won’t go back, we may all go back in the future. It might just be we have a break from it. I don’t know.”

Media Guardian reports that there are currently no negotiations taking palce between Hammond and May and the BBC, with the two presenters’ contracts having expired last month.

“It would be a bloody tough call to do Top Gear without Jeremy, that would be a bit of a daft idea,” May said.

“I don’t think you could carry on with two people and put someone in as the new Jeremy because they are not going to be the new Jeremy. That would be short sighted and I don’t think it would work. Virtually impossible,” he added.