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Clarkson and Hammond spotted in modified Fiat Multipla

Alasondro Alegré

Alasondro Alegré

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Richard Hammond from BBC's Top Gear took a break from filming in Westbourne, Bournemouth - 18th October 2013. The film crew were spotted in a car park in Westbourne along with an unusual modified car believed to have been a Fiat Multipla.
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It's a time machine! :D

The popular TV show 'Top Gear' came to Westbourne on Thursday 18th October 2012 to do a spot of filming for their new series. Presenters Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond were spotted with an unusual car which we believe originally started out as a Fiat Multipla but since modified with what looks like coach style wingmirrors, a 'Rover" looking grill and a homemade large 'bumper'!
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/letsgoout-bournemouthandpoole/tags/topgearbournemouth/
 
Well I can't quite figure out where this one is going but already it stinks of lame, scripted fail.
 
Exactly my thoughts, sadly.
 
And they have ruined a Multipla in the first place. Having painted it beige! Bastards. :shakefist:

EDIT: So massive mirrors, what looks like a huge lump of sponge on the front, a big sticker with large text to remind the driver what fuel to use, Rover badges and painted hearing-aid beige.

I'm guessing this is "Design a car that's perfect for older drivers".

Which is pointless really as such a thing already exists.

It's called a bus!
 
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This looks terrible.


I think I can see the ads for Series 19 already: "Have you ever been watching an episode of Top Gear and found it to be so amazingly awful that you openly verbalized the words "that's shit!"? Well, in Series 19 we aim to make you have that sort of reaction at least once an episode! Series 19 of Top Gear, we aim to disappoint."
 
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There is no way this could be a serious challenge, it can't be shown as a genuine failure even with tons of acting (of which they lack skills). I guess this could be a short mini feature of sorts "can you make Multipla, the most hideous car in the world, even uglier" or shit
 
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And we can see that Whitevanwoman is still on her "any criticism of Top Gear is EVIL EVIL EVIL and therefore you're not fans!" kick.

Yep, it's a "perfect car for old people" scripted asininity. That latter article said something about driving the wrong way down a motorway slipway.
 
It looks like this year's Sweeney, and that was a Clarkson/Hammond segment too.

I think the problem with those two working together without May is that they're too alike. Any combination with May in it will have contrasting styles, opinions, methods, so Clarkson and Hammond have something to bounce off. Even if James is just the still point in the middle, he's necessary to make the comedy work.

Nothing to do with the fact that May is my favourite.
 
I think it's that May has finally managed to worm his way out of the bits that cause him and us acute embarrassment. Good for him if that's the case.
 
MWF said:
I think it's that May has finally managed to worm his way out of the bits that cause him and us acute embarrassment. Good for him if that's the case.
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I'm sure James does what he's told to do just as Richard does. Its their job after all. They both know what they've signed up for. But I agree that Jeremy and Richard are too similar which is why either of them doing two-handers with James usually works better.

Oh and by the way - I might hate this segment as much as any of you - I dislike scripted fail as much as the next person - especially as a fan of Richard (do you think we LIKE seeing him scripted to be made a fool of?) - but I accept that TG has to cater for a lot of different people and just accept it for that.
 
Whitevanwoman said:
Oh and by the way - I might hate this segment as much as any of you - I dislike scripted fail as much as the next person - especially as a fan of Richard (do you think we LIKE seeing him scripted to be made a fool of?) - but I accept that TG has to cater for a lot of different people and just accept it for that.
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First of all, I'm glad you can be objective about stuff like this, but you're still rationalizing a bit. None of us like to see Richard in this position, and a number of us are willing to say so. We're doing this out of a perspective that not only doesn't Richard deserve this treatment, but neither does the audience.

That being said, I need to ask you this: who exactly is Top Gear catering to when they give us Stupid Richard? When Stupid Richard shows up (these days), nothing good can come of a cocking-about featurette. As I said one other time, Stupid Richard came very, very close to ruining The Interceptors, one of the most-lauded sketches of the past few years. What's the purpose of Stupid Richard? Is there any purpose beyond some sort of bizarre ego-gratification behind-the-scenes thing?

Let's see if they dare to have Stupid Richard show up for the Bond special.
 
The Spie said:
Let's see if they dare to have Stupid Richard show up for the Bond special.
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I'm expecting the Richard who does crsh course interspersed with a bit of the Richard who did the Knievel and Moss specials.
 
To be honest I don't know why it has been decided that Richard needs to be portrayed as stupidly stupid and I agree that it makes the cocking about even more painful to watch. A few years ago he did say, rather petulantly for him, when asked in an interview about his 'stupid little one' character and Andy stating that they had become cartoon versions of themselves - 'well he's the one that edits us that way' - so I don't really believe its ego-gratification on Richard's part and why would it be? It doesn't exactly do him any favours on or outside TG IMO.

Perhaps we all try and rationalise these segments too much - and we should just lean back and let them flow over us. Andy and Jez obviously feel there is a place for this type of cocking about in TG and that they are enjoyed by a big enough proportion of the viewers otherwise they wouldn't do it. As much as these bits can make me wince I guess I respect Andy and Jez enough to trust that they know what they are doing.

And on the Bond Special? In today's Sunday Times Andy writes 'Overall we have deliberately backed off on the Top Gear high jinks for this programme' and also 'finally if the cliche police are reading this, don't worry: Richard doesn't pop up up in a black tie and he never once says, 'the name's Hammond, Richard Hammond'
 
Whitevanwoman said:
Perhaps we all try and rationalise these segments too much - and we should just lean back and let them flow over us. Andy and Jez obviously feel there is a place for this type of cocking about in TG and that they are enjoyed by a big enough proportion of the viewers otherwise they wouldn't do it. As much as these bits can make me wince I guess I respect Andy and Jez enough to trust that they know what they are doing.
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If you look at the number of YouTube video views for what I, and I assume many others here, feel are the worst episodes/bits of Top Gear that can be watched, you'd see that some of those "bad :puke:" (and I'm expressing my personal sentiments with that) clips are some of the most watched. The comments that follow are typically also large in number and very positive. That doesn't stop me from hating the content, though.

I suppose I have similar feelings to that of an angsty teen who feels that their favorite band has "sold out." I do have to admit though, that years ago, I wrote in to Clarkson promoting the idea of Top Gear being an entertainment show so that they could have more popularity/money to also be a car show.

On a side note, I have to wonder now if I've become one of the "cliche police."
 
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Whitevanwoman said:
To be honest I don't know why it has been decided that Richard needs to be portrayed as stupidly stupid and I agree that it makes the cocking about even more painful to watch. A few years ago he did say, rather petulantly for him, when asked in an interview about his 'stupid little one' character and Andy stating that they had become cartoon versions of themselves - 'well he's the one that edits us that way' - so I don't really believe its ego-gratification on Richard's part and why would it be? It doesn't exactly do him any favours on or outside TG IMO.
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I wasn't talking about Richard's ego being the one that's gratified by Stupid Richard's presence. Whose ego it is, I don't know, and I'm not going to speculate.

Perhaps we all try and rationalise these segments too much - and we should just lean back and let them flow over us.
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I don't think we should. I tune in to the show to be entertained, not to have my intelligence insulted. I don't take well at all to having my intelligence insulted. I grew up an intellectual in a blue-collar environment, and it's a particular sore point with me. To this day, I don't suffer fools at all.

Andy and Jez obviously feel there is a place for this type of cocking about in TG and that they are enjoyed by a big enough proportion of the viewers otherwise they wouldn't do it. As much as these bits can make me wince I guess I respect Andy and Jez enough to trust that they know what they are doing.
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""No one in this world, so far as I know-and I have searched the record for years, and employed agents to help me-has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people." - H. L. Mencken

ETA: We're not the only ones who seem to feel that Stupid Richard's worn out his welcome. Did anyone else catch the exchange about Hammond on QI this week? I don't know if was on the standard version, but it made XL:

Jack Whitehall: "I felt sorry for an elephant the other day. I was watching this new BBC show, Planet Earth Live..."

Stephen Fry: "Oh, don't talk to me about that..."

Jack Whitehall: "Richard Hammond's on it. Richard Hammond was standing in front of these elephants in one of his tragic midlife-crisis necklaces, and it definitely had ivory on it."

After a Whitehall joke about an elephant beating up Hammond for doing that...

Alan Davies: "They put Richard Hammond out in the middle of the night with lots of lions around, just hoping that he would be savaged live on television."

Much later...

Stephen Fry: "What kind of ungulates do we find in the savannah?"

Jack Whitehall: "Richard Hammond." (accompanied by a slightly disgusted, strange look)

When QI goes after you, you're fucked.
 
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I saw the QI XL exchange.

Hammond's name often comes up in this context. I'm not a fan of his TV persona in general (no doubt he's a lovely fella in his private life, before anyone starts) and I can see why he's regarded this way. He's falling into the trap of using his popularity to get involved with things that he fancies doing, rather than things he's suited for. UK television has excellent wildlife presenters coming out of its ears. Hammond's presence on a wildlife show - however much he wants to be a wildlife presenter - comes across as incongruous and is going to attract criticism.

On the other hand, and I've said this before, I think he's a natural light entertainment host and his children's show is also good. He should play to his strengths.

I'm not sure if this post is on-topic or not. Oh well, what the hell..
 
I think you've pretty much nailed how I feel about him. I've nothing against him as a human being - in every possible respect he is just a great, all-round guy and dedicated spouse and family man. I do however find his excited small dog persona on TV grates in some contexts. Having said that the boyish enthusiasm on Crash Course totally reflected exactly how I would be given the same incredible opportunities.
 
I haven't seen the QI exchange but I can imagine what it was like. I had doubts about Richard doing PEL from the moment we heard about it - not from his ability to do it - but from the response he was likely to get. PEL had a flawed premise (ie the animals weren't live) which had nothing to do with Richard but for which he took a lot of the flak. I can only assume one of the reasons he was assigned the task was that the programme was a BBC Worldwide global production - and Worldwide needed globally known presenter - they used him for the Sports Relief Global programme as well at about the same time.

And to be completely anal, Richard hadn't worn his beads as a necklace for a good year before PEL was filmed so I'm not sure Whitehead even saw PEL but why let reality get in the way of a good (?) joke at someone's expense?

I watched Crash Course S2 ep 1 tonight (and pretty damn good it was too) and wondered again why we don't get to see that Richard on Top Gear very often these days.
 
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