Photo: BBC
Deep down inside, Jeremy Clarkson was probably tired of hosting Top Gear, the world’s most successful TV car show, because there’s no other way of explaining his constant refusal to acknowledge the numerous warnings from BBC.
Either that, or he must have thought the British media giant was bluffing. He probably imagined a Top Gear show without him would never work, and he might just have been right.
After the world-famous “fracas” earlier this year that, besides making the word itself extremely more popular than before, ended up with Clarkson leaving Top Gear through the back door, BBC were in need of a new host. With Richard Hammond and James May refusing to stay on the show without Clarkson, it was clear that Top Gear as we knew it was coming to an end.
The solution found was - and, for all intents and purposes, still is - Chris Evans. The ginger man was featured on Top Gear before as a guest and is a well-known petrolhead figure in Britain. He’s also quite funny, so he checks most of the prerequisites of the job.
When the old Top Gear presenters left, they were joined by Andy Wilman as well, the show’s producer and a long friend of Clarkson’s. His replacement was Lisa Clark, an old colleague of Evans and an experienced producer.
Five months after she took the job and another five until the new show’s debut scheduled for May 8, 2016, though, Lisa Clark announced her departure from the project, The Guardian reports. While BBC insists this will have no effect on the show’s production schedule, it does cast doubts over the dedication of those involved in this new Top Gear era. BBC will announce the show’s new executive producer sometime during next year.
Top Gear is more than just a TV show, it’s also a successful magazine with dozens of local editions around the world from India to Bulgaria and back to South Korea and Japan. Even France has now got a printed Top Gear magazine, if you can imagine that. A rebranding of this scale would be more costly than using a chimpanzee as the show’s producer for the next ten years.
No, they should carry on, and if the new show is good, after the first season or so, people will get over the fact that there’s a new team involved. They will realize that a different Top Gear is still better than no Top Gear at all, and continue to watch it. We will know more in May when the new show debuts.
After the world-famous “fracas” earlier this year that, besides making the word itself extremely more popular than before, ended up with Clarkson leaving Top Gear through the back door, BBC were in need of a new host. With Richard Hammond and James May refusing to stay on the show without Clarkson, it was clear that Top Gear as we knew it was coming to an end.
The solution found was - and, for all intents and purposes, still is - Chris Evans. The ginger man was featured on Top Gear before as a guest and is a well-known petrolhead figure in Britain. He’s also quite funny, so he checks most of the prerequisites of the job.
When the old Top Gear presenters left, they were joined by Andy Wilman as well, the show’s producer and a long friend of Clarkson’s. His replacement was Lisa Clark, an old colleague of Evans and an experienced producer.
Five months after she took the job and another five until the new show’s debut scheduled for May 8, 2016, though, Lisa Clark announced her departure from the project, The Guardian reports. While BBC insists this will have no effect on the show’s production schedule, it does cast doubts over the dedication of those involved in this new Top Gear era. BBC will announce the show’s new executive producer sometime during next year.
Show must go on?
So, for what it’s worth, what do you think BBC should do? Drop the Top Gear show altogether and focus on something new? Apart from the fact that it would be crazy to throw away the huge awareness that name has, it would also be nearly impossible.Top Gear is more than just a TV show, it’s also a successful magazine with dozens of local editions around the world from India to Bulgaria and back to South Korea and Japan. Even France has now got a printed Top Gear magazine, if you can imagine that. A rebranding of this scale would be more costly than using a chimpanzee as the show’s producer for the next ten years.
No, they should carry on, and if the new show is good, after the first season or so, people will get over the fact that there’s a new team involved. They will realize that a different Top Gear is still better than no Top Gear at all, and continue to watch it. We will know more in May when the new show debuts.
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