The show will be produced, says The Telegraph, by the Chinese branch of BBC, who hopes to build on the popularity of the original series and the newly found taste for cars of Chinese nationals. The trick is that, in a country like China, freedom of speech, especially the way in which Top Gear producers understand it, is still scarce.
We have no idea on what the regulations are in China when it comes to TV shows. We are confident, however, that the type of humor and speak-your-mind approach we are used to from Britain will not be something we'll see in the Chinese Top Gear. Imagine, for instance, the local hosts mocking Hu Jintao, the Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China...
Of course, there are other concerns to consider as well, mostly related to content. According to Chinese sources talking for The Telegraph, the at times explicit car-violence, car-porn, car-whatever content might push the show in the late hours of the night.
"The boys go crazy in the show, like pushing a Maserati over the top of a three-storey building and smashing it. It may be too much violence for a fun programme in China," Cao Yunjin, a Beijing comedian and one of the hosts of the future show told the source.
This means that the Chinese Top Gear will be... a Chinese Top Gear. With local humor, local innuendos and local censorship. But not necessarily less fun.
"Top Gear has been successful because the way the UK hosts present it is entertaining," Cao said. "We will do localised fun stuff."
And does what local stuff mean? Well, for the pilot episode we hear this means putting a Cadillac in a race against a donkey.
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