Update: The BBC has now also confirmed that the Cenotaph will not be seen in Top Gear - and was never in fact intended to be pictured on the show.
Chris Evans has apologised "unreservedly" for those pictures showing the Top Gear team filming around the Cenotaph in London over the weekend.
The show came under fire for being "disrespectful" as it appeared to film co-host Matt LeBlanc performing 'donuts' in a racing car near the war memorial.
Presenter and producer Evans has now issued an apology on his BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show for what the images seemed to show, although he insisted the programme never intended to offend.
Evans explained: "We were making a Top Gear film, and we are still making the Top Gear film, to do with a car with a brilliant stunt driver called Ken Block.
"Matt LeBlanc is making the film with Ken and we closed some roads down in London on Saturday and Sunday. I believe we're doing the same now and I think we're doing the same tomorrow.
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"This isn't a shoot I'm particularly involved with but I do obviously know something about it."
The DJ continued: "It doesn't matter what actually happened, it doesn't matter what the circumstances were that could explain this away.
"What is important about this is what these images look like, but they look entirely disrespectful, which of course was not and would never be the intention of the Top Gear team or Matt.
"These pictures were taken with a long lens camera but the point is that this does not look good at all.
"There have been some very incendiary comments written alongside these pictures and I completely understand all this furore, but the Top Gear team would never, ever do that.
"Retrospectively it was unwise to be anywhere even near the Cenotaph with this motorcar. So on behalf of the Top Gear team and Matt, I would like to apologise unreservedly for what these images seem to portray."
Digital Spy has contacted the BBC for comment.
The show was criticised when pictures of the scene first appeared, with Colonel Richard Kemp - a former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan - telling The Telegraph: "This is a sacred tribute to millions of people who have done far more for their country than Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc ever will.
"The BBC certainly should not have done this in the first place and I would urge them to make sure this does not appear in the final programme."
Chancellor George Osborne said that filming was too loud as he wrote his budget, which (unsurprisingly) did not go down well with the public.
The new series of Top Gear returns to BBC Two in May.
Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
