He has been off screens for 18 months, but now Freddie Flintoff has made his TV comeback after a near fatal crash while filming Top Gear.
This month, Freddie has been fronting the second series of his documentary Field of Dreams On Tour. It airs again tonight (Tuesday, August 27).
The series sees Freddie – whose real name is Andrew – take a group of teenage boys from his hometown of Preston, who he taught to play cricket in the first series, on a tour of India.
But the tour almost never happened, and was postponed for a year after Freddie’s horror crash.
Freddie Flintoff in Top Gear crash
In December 2022, Freddie was filming an episode of Top Gear at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey.
While driving the Morgan Super 3 trike, the car flipped and Freddie scraped his face along the tarmac, then had to wait 45 minutes before being airlifted to hospital.
He suffered broken ribs and facial injuries and wasn’t seen in public until September 2023, where his injuries were visible.
Who is Freddie Flintoff’s wife?
Freddie has been married to his wife Rachael Wools since March 2005. Their wedding took place at the upmarket Pavilion Road Hotel in Knightsbridge, London, but due to Freddie’s work commitments, they didn’t have a honeymoon.
Rachael, 43, is a former model and owned her own events company until 2006.
The couple met in 2002 at a cricket ground in Birmingham where Rachael was promoting her business.
She said previously: “He really wasn’t my type physically, because I always go for dark men, but I thought he was the funniest guy I had ever met. He got hold of my mobile number and texted me a couple of times, and we met up for a drink, and I was pretty much bowled over by his charm.”
Rachael previously revealed she never calls him Freddie. Instead he goes by Andrew at home as the nickname is his professional identity.
It is reported that following the crash, Rachael “begged” Freddie to stay off work to take time to recover from his injuries.
There were also reports that she asked him to tone down his increasingly daredevil lifestyle.
Does Freddie Flintoff have children?
Freddie and Rachael are the proud parents of four children.
They welcomed a daughter, Holly, in 2004, and sons Corey, Rocky and Preston in 2006, 2008 and 2019.
Both Corey and Rocky have followed in their dad’s footsteps and become cricket players.
The birth of Preston – named after Freddie’s hometown – was kept a secret for a few months, before he announced the news on radio.
He said on talkSPORT the following spring: “Little Preston was born at Christmas – it is the first time I’ve actually spoken about it. But yeah, we have got another baby and it has been nice spending time with him.”
Before the birth of Preston, Freddie had insisted – in a 2016 interview – that he was finished adding to his brood.
“We thought about it. I originally wanted five but you have three and that felt like enough. I couldn’t go back to the nappy stage now,” he said.
Guess Rachael did all the leg work, then…
View this post on Instagram
Freddie Flintoff’s home
Freddie, Rachael and their four children reportedly live in a sprawling £5 million mansion in Hale, Greater Manchester.
They bought the house in July 2021 from their friend, former footballer Phil Neville.
The house features six bedrooms, a swimming pool, cinema, gym, spa and even a steel-lined panic room.
Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams on Tour is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer tonight (August 27) at 9pm.
Are you looking forward to seeing Freddie back on TV? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know.