Fifth Gear back on 5 in the beginning of May!!!

[Mr. Nice]

[awdrifter]

Not that excited about the car, all the low emission and comfort talk makes it seem like there are a lot of compromises made. What's the point of saving 2.5g on a badge when you need to add an active suspension to make the car comfortable. But anyways, I'm glad to see Fifth Gear will be back soon.

[Mineworksfine]

From the Driving section of today's Sunday Times:

Six months after it was dropped by Five, Fifth Gear has earned a reprieve from the breaker’s yard. Two new series of everybody’s second-favourite car show have been confirmed for 2010, with a revised line-up of presenters and a new format aimed at attracting a more hardcore group of car fans.

The first show will air at the end of April, ahead of the new series of Top Gear, which is slated to start on BBC2 in the late summer.

The reborn Fifth Gear is billed as a back-to-basics car show that will ditch the live studio format in favour of more time spent on the track and road-testing cars. The change is seen as a response to Top Gear, which was criticised during the last series for appearing to be more interested in playing for laughs than testing cars.

The presenting team has been whittled down too: Tom Ford and Tim Shaw have left, leaving Vicki Butler-Henderson, Jonny Smith, Tiff Needell and Jason Plato.

The revival of Fifth Gear marks the end of a period of uncertainty. The show was dropped in 2009 because of lacklustre ratings — it struggled to attract more than 1m viewers, compared with Top Gear’s 5m average — and a fall in car advertising driven by the recession. Executives at Five said it was time to try something new.

Three months ago speculation mounted that the programme was set for a return to our televisions, but it wasn’t until last week that official details emerged. Under the terms of a new deal, the Discovery channel will buy the series and air it across its European networks, in Germany, France, eastern Europe and elsewhere, while Five retains the right to broadcast each show in Britain first.

Smith says the phrase “back by popular demand” has never been so true. “Ever since the show was reportedly dropped, I [and the other presenters] have been genuinely shocked by the uproar from viewers all over the world,” he says. “I’ve had Twitter and blog messages from Israel, Australia, Scandinavia, Canada, America and, of course, the UK, demanding the show goes on.

“It’ll be great to be back behind the wheel in Fifth Gear, especially when it will be getting televised across so many countries. Makes me want to plan a few foreign road trips to celebrate.”

I for one am glad as they seemed to have stopped trying to ape TG in the last few series and got back to the basics of being a car programme. Not sad to see the back of Tim Shaw, nor Tom Ford come to think of it as his presenting has never been on a par with what he writes. Johnny Smith is still an annoying little tit but if they're being more car focused maybe it will matter less.

Oh, and ahpadt will be delighted!

[jack_christie]

The first show will air at the end of April, ahead of the new series of Top Gear, which is slated to start on BBC2 in the late summer.

The presenting team has been whittled down too: Tom Ford and Tim Shaw have left, leaving Vicki Butler-Henderson, Jonny Smith, Tiff Needell and Jason Plato.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/dri...cle7068112.ece

Great that the show is coming back. Real shame to lose Tom Ford.

[Mark355]

Johnny Smith is still an annoying little tit but if they're being more car focused maybe it will matter less.

Disagree with that entirely. Besides for maybe VBH, he has the most personality of anyone that's ever been on FG. He doesn't try too hard like Jason and is a lot more interesting to listen to than Tiff.

I'll miss Tom, but if Johnny is staying I'll definitely be tuning in. Tim Shaw should have never been on the show really.

[NecroJoe]

Great that the show is coming back. Real shame to lose Tom Ford.

I agree with that.

[the_eye]

so .. they remove the one guy who I didn't want to punch in the face as soon as he started talking but instead leave on everyone who makes Fifth Gear such an utter rage-inducing programme (namely, Vicky and Tiff). Great!

I don't have enough time to watch everything I want to watch anyway, so good that one item is definitely off the list.

[JCE]

Sucks that Ford is gone, but I'm not sad to see Shaw leave. I do however want VBH to move on and I really hope they focus on car reviews and ditch the TG copying like they say they will. Any ideas if this will be a 1hr show still?

[Kiskaloo]

The new format brings to (my) mind Autoweek here in the States.

[rickhamilton620]

I'm so glad it's back and with a different direction. Shame about Tom, he was pretty fun to watch. Hopefully the ratings will improve, as it kinda nice to have a show really do testing and stuff, as a foil to TG if you will.

[jimform2k1]

Will it be in HD?

[FordGT]

I think this is exactly the direction Fifth Gear needs to take because they will never beat Top Gear in terms of entertainment. I love Top Gear as much as any car guy but I also like to learn about the cars I'm watching.

I'll be watching, err downloading. Say, Five, any chance we might get FG in the U.S.?

[Phila]

I'll be watching, err downloading. Say, Five, any chance we might get FG in the U.S.?

That would be MUCH easier to do than bring unedited Top Gear to the US. Fifth Gear already has commercial breaks built in. It would fit an hour perfectly.

Maybe on HD Theater? They already have a ton of other car shows why not one more (and maybe they could keep it more current than they do with Wheeler Dealers.....).

[t3h r0x0rs]

I think this is exactly the direction Fifth Gear needs to take because they will never beat Top Gear in terms of entertainment. I love Top Gear as much as any car guy but I also like to learn about the cars I'm watching.

I'll be watching, err downloading. Say, Five, any chance we might get FG in the U.S.?

I've seen some Fifth Gear episodes on SPEED. But I don't know if they still air them. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to seeing Fifth Gear back. I may not like it as much as Top Gear, but it's still a very good car show.

[Aiolos]

Sweet! I hope the new show will be more like old FG before they started copying TG. I'll still watch both shows. I'll watch TG for laughs and ridiculousness, and I'll watch FG for more reasonable and down-to-earth reviews.

Shame to see Tom go though.. I liked him. I'd rather it have been that Johnny and Tim left and Tom stayed. Oh well....

Thank god Tim is gone though, he was awful. They had to keep VBH, Plato, and Tiff, as they can actually drive. Tom was nice for his reviews, as long as they weren't the stupid reviews were they had 3 different moronic tests to rate the car, those were idiotic.

[NSU300zx]

"Discovery channel will buy the series and air it across its European networks, in Germany, France, eastern Europe and elsewhere."

It seems like If it comes to the US, Discovery has the rights.

[Black Z Eddie]

I cannot wait! Glad to see it back. Hopefully, they'll air here in the US. I don't care if it's on Discovery, Speed, or HD Theater as long as it's on HD. And, they're not a season (give or take) behind like BBC America with Top Gear.

[FordGT]

Fifth gear on HD Theater? Hell yes! That would be great! I have been catching up on my Twist the Throttle episodes lately

[Fedfe]

ha ha, i always said tom ford and the other guy where the weakest links. good riddance, the show will now watchable!

[nameless1]

This is suck a good news!