Top Gear star James May shared the tragic news with his fan on social media
Top Gear star James May(Image: Isle of Thanet Gazette)
Former Top Gear presenter James May has paid a heartfelt tribute to his cherished friend and colleague. The Grand Tour host, 62, received an outpouring of support after sharing the devastating news.
Will Daws, co-founder of Plum Pictures and producer of the Prime Video series James May’s Shed Load of Ideas, passed away unexpectedly in London at the age of 57.
The British TV producer and executive, who described himself as “10% man, 90% anecdote”, forged close relationships with many presenters and on-screen personalities, collaborating extensively with the Top Gear star.
Their joint ventures included James May’s Toy Stories, James May: The Reassembler, Our Man In…, Oh Cook! and James May: Our Man in Japan.
He also worked on multiple programmes with Amazing Spaces host George Clarke, alongside others including Simon Reeve, Stefan Gates, Peter Snow, Hannah Fry, Johnny Vegas and Ronnie Corbett, reports the Express.
Top Gear’s James May flooded with support after co-star ‘dies suddenly'(Image: GETTY)
James shared a moving tribute on X to his late friend, accompanied by a photograph of the pair.
He wrote: “If you are wondering what happened to episode three of my ‘Shedload…’ series last night: it was postponed out of respect to Will Daws, co-founder of Plum Pictures, who produced the show.
“He died suddenly on Monday evening.You will meet him in the episode when it airs. Some of you will remember him from Manlab and Oh Cook as well. A great bloke and a great mate. Here we are comparing shirts on the set of The Reassembler. I’m the awkward looking one.”
His three million followers rushed to the comments section to express their sympathies. Comedian Al Murray wrote: “So sorry to hear this.”
Another commented: “I am so sorry for your loss, James. My deepest condolences to your team, I always loved all of your shows.”
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A third said: “Every time Will appeared on behind the scenes clips he seemed like an absolutely lovely chap. Sorry for your loss, James.”
George Clarke from Channel 4 also paid his respects to Will, whose Amazing Spaces series Plum has been producing for Channel 4 since 2012.
He stated: “I always called him Lord Daws, and for good reason. He built the most beautiful ocean liner called HMS PLUM: The ultimate amazing space. We all travelled with him aboard his wonderful ship visiting some of the most magical places on earth.
“Whatever storms we faced on those journeys, Lord Daws always protected us, managing to navigate us to calmer, safer waters. We always laughed with him. We were always in awe of him. We always loved him.
“This week Will dropped us all off, safely at port. Always the pioneer, he decided to carry on alone to discover even more beautiful, unimagined spaces.”