Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV 

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For anyone missing the show, here's some highlights from previous series which I caught up with yesterday (at Beaulieu):

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MUSC4EVER
New series starts on Sunday, it's come around quick as the last feels like it's only just finished!
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Probably because the last series was only 3 episodes. Which was followed by a highlights programme of 3 episodes in 1. I suspect they've just split 1 series in half and pretended its 2 series.

If the series get any shorter they'll only be 1 episode, which will start with a highlights montage of that episode and end with a chat about how good the series was!

And then be followed by a rerun the following week as the series highlights programme 😂
 
sirjim73
For anyone missing the show, here's some highlights from previous series which I caught up with yesterday (at Beaulieu):

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Visited Beaulieu this past summer after my time at Goodwood Festival of Speed! Quite surreal seeing all the projects in person up close. A bit of a sad state that some of them are in, but glad that they're still being preserved. I presume from the past photos I've seen, they rotate out the Top Gear cars?


Latest episode felt very "wholesome" with Paddy trying to give a big opportunity to some youngsters, but I felt anxious for them for practically throwing in some newbies into GT4 cars. Also seeing Freddie and Chris both enjoying a pair of hot hatches was nice. Something just feels better about episodes when there isn't the constant trash talking between hosts that the Grand Tour trio has divulged into. Still haven't watched the latest Scandi Flick episode...
 
Last episode was excellent and by far the best of the series, it reminded me of a couple of things and the first was Flintoff's show earlier this year called 'Field Of Dreams' where he took some teenagers from his hometown of Preston and gave them a chance to play Cricket, the episode followed a similar premise, Also the way the episode was filmed was similar to the one where Flintoff got his racing license, both had a documentary style feel to them.

Last episode of the series is next, but it won't be on for a few weeks because of the World Cup.
 
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MUSC4EVER
Last episode was excellent and by far the best of the series, it reminded me of a couple of things and the first was Flintoff's show earlier this year called 'Field Of Dreams' where he took some teenagers from his hometown of Preston and gave them a chance to play Cricket, the episode followed a similar premise, Also the way the episode was filmed was similar to the one where Flintoff got his racing license, both had a documentary style feel to them.

Last episode of the series is next, but it won't be on for a few weeks because of the World Cup.
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Unfortunate how short each series has felt lately. Really been enjoying the current trio and wish they'd run longer series.
 
So I'm sure many of you heard the news yesterday, if you didn't Andrew Flintoff was involved in a crash at the TG test track whilst filming for TG yesterday morning, he was taken to hospital where he still is.

Actual news on his condition are quite vague, BBC say the crash wasn't at high speed so his condition isn't life-threatening, however his 16-year old son Corey has since said that his father is lucky to be alive.

All the best wishes to 'Freddie', and hopefully he has a speedy recovery.
 
Top Gear is back tonight after its break for the World Cup, it is the last one of the series though...and I don't think there is a special at Christmas.
 
Something happened during that accident that we don't know about, I'm now convinced..
 
The Guardian’s article on the crash adds a few details which aren’t in the BBC’s article, like the vehicle involved, how it happened and the fact that a member of the crew was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash.

BBC will not resume filming Top Gear series after Flintoff crash investigation | Top Gear | The Guardian

‘Judgment about how best to continue’ with motoring show will come after health and safety review
amp.theguardian.com amp.theguardian.com

If true, It does seem odd that they leave out the fact that someone else got injured.
 
Holy cow the fact that the car flipped must have been really scary! Article doesn't mention if the other person was seriously injured though.
 
MUSC4EVER
Holy cow the fact that the car flipped must have been really scary! Article doesn't mention if the other person was seriously injured though.
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That’s a fair point, it doesn’t, but it’s still odd that the BBC left out that detail that someone else was in the car with Freddie at the time.
 
daan
Freddie probably acted as the roll over hoop.
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Which is the biggest difference between Flintoff and Richard Hammond (though Jeremy Clarkson is pretty close in size to Flintoff).
 
Its understandable that they are taking a break, hope 'Freddie' recovers soon and they are back on our screens, the show obviously isn't as good as it was but its still quite enjoyable.
 
Hoping for a speedy recovery for Flintoff, unfortunate to hear of the accident. Some news outlets have been posting rumors about the possibility of him quitting, which would hurt after the growing chemistry of the three. Still tire of seeing constant trash talking of "I didn't realize they were still going" or "It's never been the same since Clarkson, Hammond, and May!" I never really saw it as such, instead thought of it as another automotive show to enjoy. McGuinness, Harris, and Flintoff made it more into their own.
 
Vic Reign93
The Guardian’s article on the crash adds a few details which aren’t in the BBC’s article, like the vehicle involved, how it happened and the fact that a member of the crew was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash.

BBC will not resume filming Top Gear series after Flintoff crash investigation | Top Gear | The Guardian

‘Judgment about how best to continue’ with motoring show will come after health and safety review
amp.theguardian.com amp.theguardian.com

If true, It does seem odd that they leave out the fact that someone else got injured.
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What's concerning is how long it's taken to understand more details, plus no one has seen or heard from Freddie since the crash (to my knowledge). Normally very active on social media but hasn't posted since 10th December.

As said above, if he's flipped a Morgan 3-Wheeler, it's little wonder he ended up with facial injuries.

Hopefully he's recovering well.
 
I wonder if the episodes that were already filmed will make it to air, or if BBC will scrap the entire series altogether.

Maybe the non-Freddie films and reviews will end up on Top Gear’s YouTube.
 
Super cool video of Rory Reid talking about how became a Top Gear presenter. He talks about the interview process, how he was initially rejected, and how it impacted his personal life at the time

 
He has taken up a coaching job with the England under 19's, he has been travelling around watching the Ashes over the summer but kept things low key. He was with the senior squad yesterday.

That might be it for his presenting career.
 
Was at the Stonor Park event today and an old minor Top Gear presenter whose name I didn't remember mentioned that he'd heard that all the crew were looking elsewhere and there was talk of a new show starting up on another channel. It sounded very much like that there will be no more on the BBC from what he said.
Apparently Chris Harris avoided all Top Gear questions at Goodwood Revival and would only talk about other things. But that's only third or fourth hand.
I wouldn't be surprised though, if Top Gear was not to be seen again. It would be a pity, if that's the case.

I guess Dave might be interested in doing something as the channel has had a lot of success with old Top Gear reruns?
 
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sirjim73
I guess Dave might be interested in doing something as the channel has had a lot of success with old Top Gear reruns?
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Dave (and UKTV as a whole) is owned fully by the BBC, which is why many UKTV shows have made it onto the iPlayer. I wouldn't expect Top Gear to return as a Dave show for this reason, and I doubt there's a market for other channels to revive the Top Gear name likely due to the licensing costs, and even if it wasn't the case there's still the issue of there seemingly not being a market for Top Gear post-Clarkson/Hammond/May - while New Top Gear did get good to excellent viewing figures, it seems to have a much smaller impact culturally than before Clarkson was fired. While I watched the show until Series 32 (not certain) as I stopped enjoying it, for the years of New Top Gear that I did watch I did not meet a single person who also watched it and who also liked it, which is a very weird thing.

Then there's the controversy surrounding Freddie and it seems like any new TG-like shows will not have that name. Plus there's the question of who'd present it (while I'd love to present Top Gear and I have experience presenting, the crucial issue is that I can't drive). It does seem surprising the BBC is not planning to release the already filmed episodes as it stands now, especially considering 2002 Top Gear lasted 13 more series after Richard's crash. I have no idea what's changed in the management of the BBC. Perhaps Flintoff is so angry that he never wants his appearances on Top Gear to aired again, but I can't really see that. If I was in charge and had no option but to cancel Top Gear I'd probably do a final series which would be a 'Top Gear Light' of the finished Series 34 VTs, and maybe a few other deleted bits from past series. There was a whole challenge from Series 23 that was cut (which had Rory Reid in it so naturally I'm interested), and considering how much that series was cut down I wouldn't be surprised if there was more in the archive. Plus there's the content of Series 22's cut episodes including James May's review. With that, Top Gear could die peacefully with a (hopefully) satisfying ending.

Ultimately the apparent end of Top Gear and the upcoming end of The Grand Tour and Clarkson's Farm (although the latter might live to see another day) we have here has made me reconsider a lot of post-2015 Top Gear, TGT and Clarkson's Farm. Below are my main thoughts:
  1. While Freddie, Paddy and Chris were fun in the beginning I eventually found them more grating and couldn't watch the latter half of their episodes. Other changes to the format also made me dislike the show - I found their variation of the celebrity segments with the small challenges were really fun and I feel they should never have got rid of it.
  2. Matt, Rory and Chris weren't a good presenting team as a three, but as pairs they worked well, weirdly. Some of my favourite episodes of Top Gear (not just New TG) were from these years, particularly the Chiron vs anything race which was tense throughout, and the Ssangyacht episode which I loved. That said, I think my enjoyment of the latter was down to Rory Reid's seemingly endless charm; he was a great presenter and I wish they'd never let him go. And that leads me onto #3...
  3. While Rory's exit was his own choice, I feel if they could have kept him, Rory and Chris Harris should have been the sole presenters of the show post-S26. They were, after all, the most liked presenters of Series 23 from what I've seen and they work well together.
  4. They never marketed Matt LeBlanc as a presenter properly. When I'm watching episodes from the four LeBlanc series while using Snapchat (I'm young, okay) the instant response from a lot of people is 'Joey's in this?!' I find it hard to figure out why they never pushed him more in the marketing, even if it wouldn't have brought back the audience who moved to The Grand Tour.
  5. Okay, this one's going to get me some poo emojis... I think Chris Evans was onto something. His plan was from my interpretation for a 'super Top Gear' that had many episodes per series and many presenters, like the 1977 format of Top Gear but with the big budget and overall format of 2002 Top Gear. And so we got six presenters who fell into three groups - Chris Evans and Matt were the main presenters, Chris Harris and Rory were the reviewers, and Eddie and Sabine were mainly for challenges. While the cut challenge did see the groups mix unlike any other in that series, I think that Eddie and Sabine would still never have done a car review had the fallout not occurred or that the series wasn't cut down by four episodes. However, they may have done documentary segments, which Top Gear and The Grand Tour have both done consistently well. In fact had Chris Evans not left and the format had stayed the same, I wouldn't be surprised to see 20-episode series with the main presenters going on challenges with secondary cast members and occasional reviewers padding out episodes with smaller segments. It never happened, but it would have been really interesting to see even if nobody watched it.
  6. I have a version of Top Gear in my head which would be if I was main presenter and had creative control over the show. The format would have followed the potential Chris Evans format and could have let me and my co-presenter (my best friend from real life) do big challenges where we'd get along and be at our best and do less reviews which both of us would be hopeless at. Plus it would use the cut Top Gear theme made for the show's visual refresh, which is a banger.
  7. Controversially, I don't think Chris Evans was a bad present, just one who was very jarring to people used to the previous series. I don't think the management were wrong to hire him, although they may have wanted some foresight.
  8. The News should never have been demoted to being an Extra Gear segment, even if Chris Harris and Rory Reid (and Stephen K Amos arguably) were great hosts for it. The segment was just too good and was better at creating unscripted funny moments than The Cool Wall which had many staged moments that are obvious. Seriously, there is no way Jeremy could have hijacked a movable lift on the spot and driven it up to the Cool Wall. Anyone who's seen Clarkson's Farm know he is barely able to use a hammer. :lol:
  9. Extra Gear's format for the first series was very good despite that and I love having it on in the background while I work. Series 2 is okay, but after that the show lost all its charm and presumably viewers too.
  10. The Top Gear Test Track, while soon to be destroyed, was such a great resource for comparing car performance, which is what it was designed for. In in ideal world someone would make an archive of every single lap time on the track, with all the power laps (including the 'naughty laps' and oddball ones like the fighter jet), celebrity lap times and perhaps laps done in challenges.
  11. The Grand Tour was a weird show, being bad for two series, perfect for one, and then acceptable for the specials. The first two series are borderline unwatchable even though there are good moments in it; the 'is he coming on then' segment was only funny the first time; series 3 was perfect and arguably should have been where they left it; and the specials range from bad (I really don't like Seamen much) to brilliant (Carnage a Trois is one of my favourite TG/TGT episodes ever).
  12. Carnage A Trois is noticeably made on a low budget and I think at this point The Grand Tour has very low viewing figures, while Clarkson's farm and other CHM projects have been getting more popular. However, Carnage a Trois like the earlier series of 2002 Top Gear is incredibly fun to watch and oddly I think Top Gear is better on a low budget. The more fancy camera angles Top Gear has the less charming it is, although I can't figure out if the flashiness or the show becoming stale after Series 18 or thereabouts is the primary cause of this opinion.
  13. As I said in my previous point, Top Gear even with CHM at the helm lost its charm around the time of Series 18, even though there were bad episodes before then (many in fact) and there were plenty of good ones after that. Series 22, for example, has some brilliant episodes and segments including the Peugeot retrospective, ambulance challenge and the classic car challenge, but for me felt flat. That said I haven't done an end-to-end rewatched of Top Gear and if I did it would be very interesting to see where there was a noticeable drop in quality for the show.
 
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That was a great, well written post. 👍

I wouldn't be surprised if they end Top Gear for now and try a revival in a few years with new presenters, writers, producers etc.., like they did in 2002.

I have been watching since the show came back in that year and have been re-watching the shows on Iplayer, the time for TG was definitely in the mid 2000's, sort of 2005-11. That's when they did things like amphibious cars, cheap car challenges, the races across Europe etc.., that was the time for TG IMO, the stuff they did after that just didn't feel the same whilst it was still good.

It did sadly come to a conclusion when Jeremy had his moment of madness, Chris Evans I did find quite irritating, Le Blanc was good but I never really took to him, Rory was great and was surprised when he left. They were sort of on to something with Paddy and Freddie but I still couldn't take them seriously as TG presenters, whilst Chris Harris has been brilliant throughout.

Also sad to see the test track go.
 

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