'Top Gear' cancels 'Italian Job' stunt

A proposed recreation of the last scene in The Italian Job has been cancelled by Top Gear producers due to costs.

The BBC said that the team were "disappointed" but the cash needed to recreate the stunt could "go further elsewhere", reports PA.

The film's cliffhanger ending involves the robbers at one end of the perilously tipped coach with their gold balanced at the other, followed by Charlie Croker's line: "Hang on a minute lads. I've got a great idea."

The idea apparently came about after James May heard that the Royal Society Of Chemistry was asking members of the public to help solve the mystery of saving the gold and the lives of those in the bus as part of a competition.

A corporation spokesperson said: "We thought it would be brilliant to recreate The Italian Job scene, so we were disappointed when, having spent a lot of time researching all the options thoroughly with the Royal Society of Chemistry, we found that the cost of the stunt was massively prohibitive for one short film in one programme.

"We've got a set budget and we think we can make that money go further elsewhere."

The Society said in a statement that it was shocked that "a team of self-proclaimed petrol-heads" had missed a "great opportunity" to celebrate the film.