AS word trickled through of Jeremy Clarkson’s sacking, BBC News channel donned the blinkers and lost its marbles.

Wave upon wave of reaction, recrimination and unfounded speculation over the future of Top Gear and the man himself from “media experts”, co-hosts, rent-a-gobs, entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba, The Stig… To the point where 24 minutes into its 3pm bulletin on Wednesday, it struck me that no other story had been given a moment’s look-in.

A fact that hitherto blinkered anchor Rachel Schofield decided to put right: “In other news, at least three Britons have died in the Alps aeroplane crash that killed 150 people.”

In. Other. News.

Absolutely staggering.

The best part of half an hour devoted entirely to a BBC2 motoring show presenter losing his job when a commercial jet has disintegrated in France with great loss of life.

Now I don’t dispute that in the world of rolling TV news, leading on Clarkson at that moment was the correct judgement call.

But you only had to flick over to Sky to see how the Beeb should have maintained a better balance of the day’s agenda with everything else that was going on.

This was, after all, no quiet news day, as any heartbroken One Direction fan will tell you.

Now that the dust has settled, though, it is an enormous shame that we’ve seen the last of Clarkson’s Top Gear, a truly great TV show.

It’s lovingly produced, gloriously un-PC and gravely misunderstood by many banging the right-on drum who’d happily see it swallowed by the BBC’s quota-driven box-ticking which the series has successfully resisted and has, as a direct result, become massively popular.

The fact is, however, no matter who you are, if you thump a colleague and leave them in A&E with a split lip, you’re getting fired.

No debate. Cheerio, pal. Thanks for coming.

Clarkson brought it all on himself.

And all because he turned angry when he couldn’t get a steak at his hotel at night.

He will be fine, of course, and land on his feet with another broadcaster, hopefully after a stint in ITV’s jungle.

But it’s painfully obvious that Richard Hammond and James May should join him heading away from the Beeb.

Top Gear will not work with two-thirds of the chassis. The personnel are not interchangeable and simply parachuting in a new anchor won’t work.

The programme needs a miracle to emerge next year from its reinvention with a long-term future.

There is, however, another reason I’ll mourn the current format’s loss.

It means the end to my favourite new, short-lived game over the last couple of weeks — watching repeats on Dave channel for anything inadvertently relevant.

Last Sunday while fishing he said: “That night we went out to catch our supper and see if we could arrive at any worthwhile conclusions.” (That catching your own supper could avoid a future fracas, perhaps?) And, quite wonderfully, on the day of his dismissal, BBC3 repeated the 2010 motorhome challenge with Clarkson tasked with making the evening main course from whatever ingredients he could find at a nearby petrol station, which came with the immortal line to the cashier: “Do you have any steak?”

“Nope.”

You haven’t?

Run, lad! Run for the hills!

Spudulikes

The astonishing Six Nations final day.

Louis Theroux brilliantly measuring BBC2’s easy-to-fumble By Reason of Insanity.

E! channel’s absurdly entertaining spoof The Royals.

Sky News’ Ian Woods on the solar eclipse: “The eyes of the world are on the Faroe Islands, even if the eyes of the world are staring up there.”

The bickering couple, one concealed in a stag costume, having a full-on domestic on TV’s best game show Wild Things on Sky1.

And the KFC order yelled on The Billion Dollar Chicken Shop after worker Travis explained why he had to remove his ear stretchers: “It’s hygiene but it makes customers look at my ears weird. They look like cats a-holes because they shrivel up and get so dry…” “Two popcorn chicken and a mighty bucket for one!” Pass that bucket. Quick as you can.

Spuduhates

EastEnders nicking Friends’ classic gag: “You’re over me? When were you under me?”

The exhibitionist contestants doing far more than instructed under hypnosis when they know the camera’s on them raising doubt over the integrity of You’re Back In The Room.

Will.i.am telling no fewer than five singers on The Voice’s first live show: “You’re the real deal,” and the awarding of outlandish nicknames like “The Music Master”.

The stomach-churning sight of Michael Mosley frying and eating black pudding made from his own veins on BBC4’s Wonderful World of Blood. (Truly disgusting. Where was the Daddy’s Sauce?) And Jonathan Ross’s ITV chat show question: “How much fun are we going to have? David Mitchell is here.” You seriously need that answering, Wossy?