Chris Evans [of the UK] - three-year Top Gear deal

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This almost raises more questions than it answers.

If Chris Evans is going to carry on presenting the national breakfast show on BBC Radio 2 and also The One Show on BBBC1 on a Friday evening what format will the show take? He gets up at around 3am or so to get to the BBC in London to present the show; travelling from there down to Dunsfold and working the whole afternoon there on a Wednesday would start to take its toll. Also how will it work for him and his as yet unnamed co-presenters to go off and record some of the more epic films we have become used to? Sure other people stand in when he goes on vacation currently but the workload required for Top Gear is massive in its own right without those additional regular commitments.

I'm also wondering whether the BBC have tried to play it safe by signing up someone who is a big star domestically and whether that might backfire on them. Chris Evans is a huge talent but he is an acquired taste and has very specific appeal and I'm not sure how well he will go down with international audiences. Personally I think the BBC may have missed a trick in not taking the opportunity to identify new talent for the show. They may well do that since both Hammond and May were virtual unknowns at the time of the relaunch. I think that's the direction they should go rather trying to shoehorn in a couple more established names; find people who work together with Chris and each other where there is a sense of banter and camaraderie instead of parachuting in two others with a presenting resume and praying that they click.

And of course I'm making the assumption that they will keep to Dunsfold and try to retain at least some of the format that has been proven to work. It could be something different entirely. I'm curious to see it and I won't write it off without giving it a chance but I'm prepared for a major shake-up of the show.

The one positive bone to pick out is that Chris Evans isn't your lefty PC choice and he has been known to sail close to the wind on numerous occasions in the past.
 
just listened to Chris giving his account: When he ruled himself out of presenting the show, it was because he didn't want to be a pawn in any sort of game involving three of his friends. He had been asked whether or not he might be "interested in having a conversation about TG if anything should happen" earlier, but it was only after Richard and James had given the final :no: to a return to TG that the BBC actually suggested having that conversation. That was last week. Before the Beeb made the announcement yesterday evening, Chris texted the TG3+1 and heard back from them (not sure if he said something about Andy), wishing him good luck.

Chris talks about getting the Top Gear job.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02txgd2
 
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The one positive bone to pick out is that Chris Evans isn't your lefty PC choice and he has been known to sail close to the wind on numerous occasions in the past.

Having watched the part of the TFI Friday show he did last week where he talks about the complaints they had in the past I get the impression that those days are over. He was also asked directly by Lewis Hamilton in that show and denied (convincingly) being involved with TG.
 
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You heard it here first: Jodie Kidd will co-host. I don't know why but I have a very strong feeling they will try to make it diverse. Now all we need is someone of colour.....probably Idris elba.
 

That sounds as if they may not be going with an established name. Advising people not to waste money on wagers suggests that none of the people who have thus far been mooted or might even be vaguely considered are in line for the job.

You heard it here first: Jodie Kidd will co-host. I don't know why but I have a very strong feeling they will try to make it diverse. Now all we need is someone of colour.....probably Idris elba.

See above.
 
That sounds as if they may not be going with an established name. Advising people not to waste money on wagers suggests that none of the people who have thus far been mooted or might even be vaguely considered are in line for the job.

That cause all the betting lists were mainly car numpties
 
That cause all the betting lists were mainly car numpties

Really? So a supermodel who lapped faster than Jay Kay and presents a car show, a nutty Yorkshire biker with Aspergers who keeps inventing ways to kill himself on wheels and an actor made most famous in two dramas where the cars were also stars and who co-presents a show about car restoration count as "car numpties"?

Granted I wouldn't want to see any of them on Top Gear but they all possess certain credentials.
 
Yeah, I saw that. I agree, I hope it's not just PC nonsense. I also don't want to see Jodie Kidd as she has the personality of a manikin.

I think the Tom Ford thing is just a reference to his work at Top Gear Magazine.
 
I have been reading other stuff and people's comments. I think it would be hard to be hated because you are not Clarkson.

James was not hated because he was not Jason, but I think Chris will be hated because he is not Clarkson and anyone else will be hated too because they are bit James and Richard.

That will have to be hard. Hasn't Chris already had a nervous break? Just saying.

Of course, if the boys get a new show going out could lessen the being hated, but it could depend on where they wind up.

This new top gear is going to be expected to hit the road hard, that is going to be a lot of pressure. While I think the boys would be given more time to get the ball rolling. As had bee pointed out, when top gear restarted, they grew intro what they became.

I think the addition of a woman is a mistake. Any woman unless they get a really good looking one that may draw viewers just to loo at her.

I wish them luck, but I think they are so tickled to have a shot at a top show, they are glossing over just how hard it is going to be.

Oh well, I guess we will all see next year.
 
He is passionate about cars, that's a must. I never used to like him, I found him far too "in your face", but on the occasion I've seen him talking about cars, he's much better.

Still hoping Arnold Rimmer himself, Chris Barrie is next.

At this point, I don't care about "remaking" the Top Gear of Clarkson, May and Hammond - because that's gone forever with them. What I want now is a car show, presented by knowledgeable and passionate petrol heads that lets the cars be the stars, and is entertaining.

I don't want scripted silliness, I don't want celebrity simpering - I don't want "Chris Evans and co's impression of the boys".

I just want a watchable car show, that showcases the stunning cars in the way TG at it's best could (production values etc)

We had 13 years of Jezza, Captain Slow and Hamster - 13 wonderful years, but if we're honest TG was looking a little tattered around the edges at times, sometimes it's best to let go, than hang on too long.
 
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Am I the only one remembering the first few seasons of "new Top Gear"? That famous chemistry did need time to develop, as did the sterling camera and production work. Wouldn't it be only fair to give this new version of TG some time to mature?

This, though not forgetting that James May didn't even start the show until the beginning of the second series.

You're right though it is only fair to give this new version of TG time to mature. The new team needs to have time to develop their own dynamic, only time will tell how successful they will be.


Fair? You two do realize this is the internets where people throw out opinions like grenades that had the pin pulled accidentally right?



I agree. They may not be the trio we have come to enjoy seeing, but they could still be good in their own way and well worth watching. So that could be two programs that we would have instead of just one.
 
The Guardian of course approves ("Chris Evans could be just what Top Gear needs to move on after Jeremy Clarkson"), though the writer gives the game away toward the end ("When it made the shift from dry motoring magazine programme to studio-based celebrity chat show with elaborate stunt VTs thrown in, I remember really enjoying Top Gear for about a year until Hammond, May and Clarkson started to resemble patrician pillocks sneering at people with cars less flash than their own. Then I turned off. But it could be inclusive again.")
 
Typical extreme lefty missing the whole point as per bloody usual.
 
Fair? You two do realize this is the internets where people throw out opinions like grenades that had the pin pulled accidentally right?
Yarp, but like a certain small village in Armorica, I still hold out against the onslaught. :lol:

It's interesting to watch people acting as if a return of TG as we knew it was just a matter of someone at the BBC snapping their fingers.

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Typical extreme lefty missing the whole point as per bloody usual.
Can they bloody stop politicising the damn show for ONE second? :rolleyes:

Funny, though, that now the people who love to complain about the "damn commies always whingeing unless they get exactly what they want" are the ones pissing and moaning about how they can't get :clarkson: :hammond: :may: back.
 
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