Freddie Flintoff set for comeback to BBC as broadcaster announces return of series

Flintoff was involved in a serious crash in 2022 while filming BBC's Top Gear which left him with life-threatening injuries.

While the broadcaster did announce earlier this year Field of Dreams would return, they have now confirmed the show will be airing "this summer."

An update by the BBC on Thursday explained: "After transforming a cricket club and the lives of teenagers in his hometown of Preston, Freddie and the boys are back in a four-part series for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

"In 2022, Freddie had an ambitious plan to take the team he created to compete in India, one of the most revered cricketing nations in the world.

"Two years in the making, the story of the most unlikely cricket tour that almost didn’t happen is coming this summer to BBC iPlayer and BBC One."

The first series aired in July of 2022, and followed the sportsman as he searched for unrecognised cricketing talent to assemble a special team.

The father-of-two joined Top Gear in 2019 alongside Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, but following the accident at the show’s Dunsford Park Aerodrome, no new episodes have aired.

Flintoff ended up reaching a settlement worth £9million with the BBC last year, with the broadcaster apologising for his injuries.

He took a break from appearing on screen at all, with the future of his additional BBC series Field of Dreams also remaining uncertain for some time.

At the end of last year, the BBC announced: “Given the exceptional circumstances, the BBC has decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future.

“The BBC remains committed to Freddie, Chris [Harris] and Paddy who have been at the heart of the show’s renaissance since 2019, and we’re excited about new projects being developed with each of them.”

It comes as his co-star McGuinness revealed earlier this year he and the others would be “up for it” as he talked about reprising the motoring programme.

The BBC haven't given an exact date for the series, but fans have expressed their excitement over the update.

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Responding to the news on X, one wrote: "Looking forward to it first series was absolutely fantastic."

"Look forward to this," a second commented while a third added: "The first series was lovely and a lot has happened between so I look forward to this."

"So excited to see there’s going to be another series of Field of Dreams with Freddie Flintoff #fieldofdreams," someone else enthused.

"The first series was great and this looks good too!" another fan shared, while one more penned: "Excellent! I loved the first series."