More than 18 months after his horrific accident on the set of Top Gear, Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff has revealed he continues to suffer from anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks since suffering his life-changing injuries.
Flintoff was driving an open-top tricycle on the track at Dunsford Airfield in Surrey in December 2022 when the vehicle flipped over and skidded. He suffered facial injuries and fractured ribs and was taken to hospital by helicopter.
Speaking to the BBC’s new show Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams on Tour, Flintoff, 46, described how he was “crying every two minutes” for seven months after the accident in his Morgan Super 3 and only left his house for medical appointments.
The documentary series, a sequel to 2022’s Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams, sees Flintoff take a group of young people from his hometown of Preston on a cricket tour to India, which is forced to be postponed after its star’s accident.
In the first episode, Flintoff is shown in his hospital bed talking about the accident. “Seriously, I shouldn’t be here if this has happened,” he says. “It’s going to be a long road to recovery and I’ve only just started. I’m already at a dead end. I need help but I know I’m bad at asking for it. I need to stop crying every two minutes.”
He added: “You’ve got to look at the positives, right? I’m still here and I’ve got another chance. I’ve got to hang in there. I look at it as a second shot. I’m really looking forward to seeing the lads again and being around them. I really am.”
Seven months later, and after undergoing multiple operations for facial injuries, the film shows Flintoff reflecting further on the mental and physical impact of the accident.
“I thought I’d be able to shake it off, but I wasn’t. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I wanted to get out there and do something, but I just couldn’t.”
“I was very anxious. I had nightmares and flashbacks. It was very hard to deal with. But some of these kids have had hard lives. I have to try to put things in perspective and I feel guilty that I can’t. I don’t want to sit here feeling sorry for myself and I don’t want sympathy.”
Following Flintoff’s accident, the BBC announced it would “pause” Top Gear, which has been on the air since 2002, until further notice and would pay him £9 million in compensation.
The former Lancashire all-rounder has since returned steadily to the public eye, rejoining England’s backroom staff for the T20 series against the West Indies earlier this year and taking on the role of head coach of Northern Superchargers in the Hundred.
The episode sees former Lancashire team-mate Kyle Hogg, who also serves as the team’s coach, informing the players about Flintoff’s accident and that the tour of India has been postponed.
But Flintoff spent several months holed up recovering, and his loyalty to the team drove him back in. He later met up with the squad and asked them if they were willing to go to India.
It was an emotional reunion. “We missed you,” one of the boys said, while the other asked, “Are you 100%?”
“Not really,” Flintoff replied. “I don’t think I could do it again, to be honest with you. I’m better than I was. I don’t know what it means to be totally better. I’m not the same person I was before and that’s something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life. Better, no, not better.”
With the team in India, Flintoff will “feel like a father to the players” and says cricket has helped them recover from their injuries: “When you’re playing cricket you forget about everything and you get lost in the game,” he says.
“I think I’ve felt more vulnerable over the last 12 months than I’ve ever been in my life and so I’m turning to cricket for help again.”
Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams on Tour will air on BBC One at 9pm on August 13 and will also be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
