Jeremy Clarkson will return to the BBC”, Kim Shillinglaw, the head of BBC 2 and BBC 4, has said.

Kim Shillinglaw, who has the task of finding Jeremy Clarkson’s replacement after he was dropped from Top Gear, said he had not been banned by the BBC.

“It’s serious and unfortunate what happened but there is no ban on Jeremy being on the BBC,” Kim Shillinglaw said.

“It’s a big deal what happened and Jeremy, as any human being would, needs some time.”

Jeremy Clarkson, 55, was removed from Top Gear on March 25 after assaulting producer Oisin Tymon.

Kim Shillinglaw said it was an “open book” on who might replace Jeremy Clarkson, following rumors it could be a woman.

She said: “We’ll definitely look at some women but it’s not a driving priority.”

Kim Shillinglaw also confirmed Jeremy Clarkson’s final Top Gear scenes would be screened later this year

“No way would I want the available material not to be seen by viewers,” she said.

However, there is not enough footage to piece together the three remaining episodes of Top Gear, which was pulled off air in the aftermath of the altercation with Oisin Tymon on March 4.

Sue Perkins, the host of BBC One’s The Great British Bake Off, was named the bookmakers’ favorite to replace Jeremy Clarkson two weeks ago.

She was the front-runner for the job, followed by Dermot O’Leary and Jodie Kidd.

The news prompted a barrage of abusive tweets for Sue Perkins, whose Twitter timeline was filled with “blokes wishing me dead”, including threats from someone who “suggested they’d like to see me burn to death”.

Sue Perkins later quit Twitter, leading Jeremy Clarkson’s co-presenter James May to suggest those who sent the abusive tweets should “do the world a much bigger favor by killing yourself”.