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Top Gear (2002 TV series)
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Top Gear (2002 TV series)
Top Gear is a British automotive magazine motoring-themed television programme. It is a revival of the 1977–2001 show of the same name for the BBC, devised by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman, which premiered on 20 October 2002. The programme expanded upon its earlier incarnation which focused on reviewing cars to incorporate films featuring motoring-based challenges, races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a specially designed track. The programme drew acclaim for its visual and presentation style, as well as criticism over the controversial nature of some content. The show was also praised for its humour and lore existing in not just the automotive community but in the form of internet memes and jokes. The programme aired on BBC Two until it was moved to BBC One in 2020.
The programme's first series in 2002 was presented by Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and Jason Dawe, with an anonymous test driver "The Stig" also being featured. Wilman was the show's executive producer. Following the first series, Dawe was replaced by James May, with the line-up unchanged until the end of the twenty-second series, when the BBC chose to not renew Clarkson's contract in March 2015, following an incident during filming. His dismissal from Top Gear prompted the departure of Hammond, May and Wilman from the programme, who joined Clarkson on a new motoring series for Amazon, The Grand Tour.
As a result, Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc were appointed as hosts of Top Gear and they were joined by four co-presenters for the twenty-third series. After negative feedback on this series, Evans resigned from the programme, with LeBlanc joined by Chris Harris and Rory Reid as the main hosts. From the twenty-seventh series onwards (2019), the presenting line-up was changed following the departure of LeBlanc and Reid, with Harris joined by Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff. This series proved more popular with viewers. Production of the thirty-fourth series was halted in March 2023 after Flintoff was seriously injured in an accident during filming; the BBC later announced that Top Gear would not return for the "foreseeable future".
Top Gear has been one of the BBC's most commercially successful programmes since its relaunch. It has become a significant part of British popular culture, with episodes also broadcast in many countries in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia and more, making it the most widely-broadcast factual television programme in the world. Its success has led to various forms of merchandising, including live tours, special DVD editions, and books, as well as spawning a variety of international versions in various countries.
After the BBC cancelled the original format of Top Gear in December 2001, Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman met to work out ideas for reviving the programme for television. This led to them eventually meeting the broadcaster to pitch the idea of changing it from a motoring magazine format to one that was studio-based. Amongst the ideas that were pitched included: the involvement of a fixed location for car reviews and other films, alongside locations across Britain and abroad; putting notable cars through a timed lap of a circuit; the involvement of test driver with veteran racing experience, who handles driving some of the cars for the programme; and the participation of celebrity guests who would be invited to take part in an episode, undertake an interview over motoring matters, such as their car history, and take part in a special challenge to do a timed lap in a designated car. Following the pitch, the BBC decided to green-light the new format, in order to create a programme to compete with Channel 5's new motoring show Fifth Gear, to which several original Top Gear presenters including Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson and producer Jon Bentley went.
Production began in mid-2002, with the broadcaster securing the right to use Dunsfold Aerodrome, an airport and business park in Waverley, Surrey, as the programme's fixed location – while its runways and taxiways were allocated for reviews and other films, one of the site's large aircraft hangars was transformed into Top Gear's new studio. To match the proposed ideas for the new format, the BBC gained assistance from Lotus to design a race circuit for use on the programme that would be situated at the fixed location, while editing of films that were recorded for each episode, focused on extending the runtime of the programme to one hour. Wilman took on the role of the show's executive producer, while Clarkson became part of the hosting line-up. Because most of those who had worked with Clarkson on the original programme had left the BBC to work on Fifth Gear, the production team arranged for him to be joined by Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe.
A difficulty found during production revolved around the show's test driver – neither Clarkson nor Wilman could find a racing driver with experience at speaking on-camera. In discussions over this, the pair opted to make the driver silent, and later having their identity concealed. When they recruited Perry McCarthy amongst their possible candidates for the role, his input led to Wilman choosing to nickname the test driver "the Stig".
To date, there have been 13 presenters of the show:
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Top Gear (2002 TV series)
Top Gear is a British automotive magazine motoring-themed television programme. It is a revival of the 1977–2001 show of the same name for the BBC, devised by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman, which premiered on 20 October 2002. The programme expanded upon its earlier incarnation which focused on reviewing cars to incorporate films featuring motoring-based challenges, races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a specially designed track. The programme drew acclaim for its visual and presentation style, as well as criticism over the controversial nature of some content. The show was also praised for its humour and lore existing in not just the automotive community but in the form of internet memes and jokes. The programme aired on BBC Two until it was moved to BBC One in 2020.
The programme's first series in 2002 was presented by Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and Jason Dawe, with an anonymous test driver "The Stig" also being featured. Wilman was the show's executive producer. Following the first series, Dawe was replaced by James May, with the line-up unchanged until the end of the twenty-second series, when the BBC chose to not renew Clarkson's contract in March 2015, following an incident during filming. His dismissal from Top Gear prompted the departure of Hammond, May and Wilman from the programme, who joined Clarkson on a new motoring series for Amazon, The Grand Tour.
As a result, Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc were appointed as hosts of Top Gear and they were joined by four co-presenters for the twenty-third series. After negative feedback on this series, Evans resigned from the programme, with LeBlanc joined by Chris Harris and Rory Reid as the main hosts. From the twenty-seventh series onwards (2019), the presenting line-up was changed following the departure of LeBlanc and Reid, with Harris joined by Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff. This series proved more popular with viewers. Production of the thirty-fourth series was halted in March 2023 after Flintoff was seriously injured in an accident during filming; the BBC later announced that Top Gear would not return for the "foreseeable future".
Top Gear has been one of the BBC's most commercially successful programmes since its relaunch. It has become a significant part of British popular culture, with episodes also broadcast in many countries in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia and more, making it the most widely-broadcast factual television programme in the world. Its success has led to various forms of merchandising, including live tours, special DVD editions, and books, as well as spawning a variety of international versions in various countries.
After the BBC cancelled the original format of Top Gear in December 2001, Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman met to work out ideas for reviving the programme for television. This led to them eventually meeting the broadcaster to pitch the idea of changing it from a motoring magazine format to one that was studio-based. Amongst the ideas that were pitched included: the involvement of a fixed location for car reviews and other films, alongside locations across Britain and abroad; putting notable cars through a timed lap of a circuit; the involvement of test driver with veteran racing experience, who handles driving some of the cars for the programme; and the participation of celebrity guests who would be invited to take part in an episode, undertake an interview over motoring matters, such as their car history, and take part in a special challenge to do a timed lap in a designated car. Following the pitch, the BBC decided to green-light the new format, in order to create a programme to compete with Channel 5's new motoring show Fifth Gear, to which several original Top Gear presenters including Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson and producer Jon Bentley went.
Production began in mid-2002, with the broadcaster securing the right to use Dunsfold Aerodrome, an airport and business park in Waverley, Surrey, as the programme's fixed location – while its runways and taxiways were allocated for reviews and other films, one of the site's large aircraft hangars was transformed into Top Gear's new studio. To match the proposed ideas for the new format, the BBC gained assistance from Lotus to design a race circuit for use on the programme that would be situated at the fixed location, while editing of films that were recorded for each episode, focused on extending the runtime of the programme to one hour. Wilman took on the role of the show's executive producer, while Clarkson became part of the hosting line-up. Because most of those who had worked with Clarkson on the original programme had left the BBC to work on Fifth Gear, the production team arranged for him to be joined by Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe.
A difficulty found during production revolved around the show's test driver – neither Clarkson nor Wilman could find a racing driver with experience at speaking on-camera. In discussions over this, the pair opted to make the driver silent, and later having their identity concealed. When they recruited Perry McCarthy amongst their possible candidates for the role, his input led to Wilman choosing to nickname the test driver "the Stig".
To date, there have been 13 presenters of the show: