Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson dies aged 68: 'A true national treasure'

Former Top Gear and Fifth Gear presenter Quentin Willson has died at the age of 68, his family has announced.

The broadcaster and motoring expert had fought a short battle with lung cancer, they revealed in a statement, describing him as a "true national treasure" and "consumer champion" for his work across the two shows.

Willson co-presented Top Gear from 1991 to 2001, alongside the likes of Michele Newman, Steve Berry, Vicki Butler-Henderson and James May, who would stay with the BBC Two series in its next iteration.

When May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond became the programme's faces, Willson was among other former Top Gear stars to move over to Channel 5's Fifth Gear. He left the rival motoring show in 2004.

That was the same year that he competed in the second season of Strictly Come Dancing, where he struggled to adapt to the ballroom floor, earning 8 points in week 1 – which remains the lowest score in the show's history.

He was quick to laugh off his early elimination, however, describing himself as the "dancing equivalent of a JCB" in a later interview with The Independent.

In his later years, Willson stepped back from the screen, but remained embedded in the motoring industry and took a particular interest in electric and energy efficient vehicles.

In a statement, his family said: "Quentin brought the joy of motoring, from combustion to electric, into our living rooms. The void he has left can never be filled.

"His knowledge was not just learned but lived; a library of experience now beyond our reach... Quentin will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and all who knew him personally and professionally."

Among those are the aforementioned May, who went on to lead Top Gear and its later rival The Grand Tour for more than two decades, and described Willson as a "great bloke" in a short tribute on X.

"Quentin Willson gave me proper advice and encouragement during my earliest attempts at TV, back in the late 90s," he wrote. "I’ve never forgotten it. Great bloke."