How to succeed Top Gear. Format ideas, presenters etc. (Assuming BBC wants to)

DaShowstoppa

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2007
Messages
693
Location
Hampshire Berkshire borders
Car(s)
2010 Vauxhall Astra 1.6L SRI
Lots of inevitable discussion in Jeremy's suspension thread about the future of Top Gear, it's team and what (if anything) the BBC could do next. So I thought we should have a place to propose ideas, just for fun to see what we all would like to see, in terms of format and presenters etc. (Assuming BBC can't retain any of the TG lads - which I suspect is unlikely)

Possible presenters for me (not in terms of "replicating" May, Hamster and Jezza - just presenters I like who have a keen interest in cars and a good entertaining style.

1: Chris Barrie

2: Edd China

3: Steve Coogan
 
You know what will succeed TopGear? A show called 'eco-hour' or some such nonsense, it will be about 'living together in harmony with mother Gaia' , it will be aired on a weekday afternoon because hippies don't work anyway, presented by a man hating transsexual, a black woman of Chinese descent, and a handicapped Orphan, it will feature segments about how green cars are not nearly green enough, ethnic peace bycicles, tofu, and public transportation.


Oh what a wonderfull modern world we live in.....
 
Last edited:
You know what will succeed TopGear? A show called 'eco-hour' or some such nonsense, it will be about 'living together in harmony with mother Gaia' , it will be aired on a weekday afternoon because hippies don't work anyway, presented by a man hating transsexual, a black woman of Chinese descent, and a handicapped Orphan, it will feature segments about how green cars are not nearly green enough, ethnic peace bycicles, tofu, and public transportation.


Oh what a wonderfull modern world we live in.....

Oh yeah, I think we all know what's likely to happen. I just wanted to hear some ideas from "sensible" people. People who love cars, speed and just want a bit of fun on a Sunday night at 8:00 for 12 weeks a year.
 
Who do we need for presenters? Simple:

1. People who regard cars as their living, i.e. more than just a hobby. Which is why Adam Ferrara is a weak TGUS presenter compared with Tanner and Rut. It's also why you won't get Steve Coogan or Chris Barrie or even Mr. Elba; they're actors and performers, not automotive experts.

2. People who know how to talk about cars with people who don't care a whit about them. This is a rarer skill. JC's talent is that he can write about a car with metaphors and similes that resonated with people who normally don't read car reviews unless they had to. James can sort of do the same thing, only his audience is more nerdish in attitude (i.e. they're SMEs about other subjects than cars) compared with JC's, and RH is able to do this with specific-to-general science stuff which is why he's in demand as a science narrator slash presenter.

3. People who know how to use the camera. If you've seen the Sweeny segment, you do get that JC *does* know how to use the camera to stage a shot for maximum emotional effect. It's a skill than can be learned over a long period of time, but not easily.

An unfortunate truth: the BBC is not likely to get women and / or minority presenters with this sort of skill set, for the simple reasons that (a) they don't really make up a big proportion of the *current* pool of presenters, and (b) the pool of presenters who can do specialized topics like cars is even smaller regardless of gender / ethnicity.
 
Guy Martin and Claire Barratt, that girl was on Salvage Sqaud or are they tied to C4/not doing tv?
 
^good idea!!!
guy martin can swear/insult all he wants, no one understands him anyways! :lol:
 
The first series would be Guy Martin making the new studio from scratch using victorian techniques.
 
Chris Barrie would be my first choice. He's funny, and he loves cars. I don't know if he's good enough to be a chat show host for the SIARPC. I think that segment should stay even if most Top Gear fans don't care for it much.
 
Chris Barrie would be my first choice. He's funny, and he loves cars. I don't know if he's good enough to be a chat show host for the SIARPC. I think that segment should stay even if most Top Gear fans don't care for it much.

I think there's too much "celebrity crap" on telly, Top Gear doesn't need to be indulging egos - unless the interviewee is a petrol head, then perhaps I could forgive that. But it's now "Oh I'm here to plug my new project" more often than not. Jay Kay, Chris Evans, Jay Leno, Steve Coogan and the F1 mob? Fine, they know their cars and it's relevant.

Speaking of funny, I'd love Ben Collins back, his books are brilliant, plus somewhat obviously he's a bit useful with cars.
 
The thing is, in order to do Top Gear properly, you can't really have a celebrity. You need someone with whom driving or cars is a job, rather than a hobby. Which leaves out most actor / presenter petrolheads like Barrie.

Think Ollie Marriage. Think some of the Fifth Gear crew. Think some of the writers of TGUK magazine, or Motor Trend or Road & Track.

It can't, of course, be "plug and play." Some of the format will have to change: SIARPC might be done as a tournament format, for example, instead of interview/plug then lap.

But the "challenges" / "adventures" / reviews could still be doable.
 
You don't need a celebrity to do it properly, James May, Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and the fat one named Dawes or whatever. None of them were famous they became famous by doing Top Gear properly.
Jeremy and May were even from Old Top Gear, they weren't put on the show because they were celebrities they were picked by a producer who saw potential talent like when Hammond was selected for Top Gear.
 
In all honesty Top Gear is Top Gear nothing can succeed it, but the Beeb could make another car show but it would have to have another format than what Top Gear has, why you ask? simply because what makes Top gear what it is, is Clarkson, Hammond and May.
 
In all honesty Top Gear is Top Gear nothing can succeed it, but the Beeb could make another car show but it would have to have another format than what Top Gear has, why you ask? simply because what makes Top gear what it is, is Clarkson, Hammond and May.

Probably the best way of putting it. To be honest if BBC ever revived it, I could see it becoming what "old" top gear was. Watchdog for motorists.
 
I have a different idea entirely.

Nobody knows what will happen, but what could happen is that the show gets split up. Comedy going into something like Have I Got News For You/NMTB/etc, motoring news/reviews towards Fifth Gear, guests and SIARPC to something like the short-lived "petrolheads" quiz. Challenges into a "scrapheap challenge"-like program. Many new shows could spin off from Top Gear. People would just watch the ones that contain the parts they used to watch Top Gear for.

All the aspects together may never be fused together in a single show again. We don't know, but those things happen.
 
Not keen on "celebs/presenters" tbh

race car drivers, jornos, people with a back ground in cars who at least have a depth of car knowledge who feel at home in front of the camera vs a Celeb who just happens to like cars. Just look what happened when 5th gear tried it.
 
How about this for a line up if Jezza splits and takes the other 2 with him David Coulthard, Ben Collins and Harry Metcalfe.
I had been wondering about another possibility though, say Jezza stays with Top Gear in a role similar to Andy Wilman's but steps down as a Host and has someone like Harry Metcalfe step in instead it would mean that Top Gear could continue in a way that it doesn't destroy everyone else's jobs with him.
 
Top