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Fifth Gear Is Over, Says Presenter Tiff Needell

Tiff Needell driving a Volvo FH truck 1 photo
Photo: Volvo
Fifth Gear, the TV show that focused on cars and that starred former Top Gear host Tiff Needell will not record any new episodes.
While the news is not exactly official, it comes from Tiff Needell’s Twitter account, and the presenter explained that the producers have a hard time to re-commission the show.

As he explained in a Tweet published on the same day of the announcement that said the last episode of Fifth Gear was filmed last Friday, it’s all a problem related to money.

Mr. Needell has been presenting car shows for 29 years straight. As his bio explains, he has been on Top Gear for 15 years, until 2001. From there on, he started appearing on Fifth Gear, where he also spent almost the same period. Tiff says he “feels weird not to have any filming dates in his diary.

The British TV show titled Fifth Gear first appeared on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011. From there, it was taken over by Discovery and History, as well as ITV4. Initially, it was named “5th Gear,” as a continuation of the original BBC Top Gear, which had been canceled in 2001.

While Channel 5 wanted the original name, the BBC declined and eventually relaunched the show called "Top Gear." It is now at its second rebirth, as former stars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May have moved on to Amazon Video to film “The Grand Tour.” Meanwhile, the Top Gear show has an all-new crew, and the battle for the viewer’s attention will rage on in the coming months. We believe you might have heard of them.

Tiff Needell is joined the cast of presenters of Fifth Gear by Jonny Smith and Vicki Butler-Henderson. The latter and Needell have been with the show since the beginning, while Jonny Smith came ten years ago. Meanwhile, presenters like Jason Plato, Quentin Wilson, Adrian Simpson, and Tom Ford have moved on to other projects. Jon Bentley, the former producer of the show, appeared in several episodes.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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