BBC want to keep Top Gear co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond

BBC want to keep Top Gear co-hots Richard Hammond and James May.

The BBC is reportedly looking to keep Jeremy Clarkson's former Top Gear co-hosts on the show despite his departure.

James May and Richard Hammond have been offered deals in the region of £1 million (NZ$2.16 million) a year to stay with the hit motoring show, according to The Times.

Such a deal would make the pair among the corporation's highest earners.

It comes amid speculation the BBC will not directly replace Clarkson, but instead have a guest host on each show.

The corporation used a similar tactic when another of its best known faces - Have I Got News For You host Angus Deayton - was fired after reports emerged of drug use and encounters with prostitutes.

A BBC spokeswoman and representatives of the two men declined to comment, but bookmakers have slashed the odds on the pair returning.

All three men's contracts ran out earlier this year and the BBC refused to renew Clarkson's after his much-publicised attack on producer Oisin Tymon.

Several names have been put forward as possible replacements for Clarkson, including Guy Martin and Jodie Kidd, but another contender - Dermot O'Leary - has ruled himself out.

The former X Factor host told the Daily Mirror he had not been approached about the job.

- PAA