[Sun column] Jeremy Clarkson: “Relaunch of Top Gear by BBC is great idea - but they face TWO huge problems”
Posted by FlipStig1@reddit | thegrandtour | View on Reddit | 80 comments
Jeremy Clarkson wrote two columns for The Sun this weekend. The first one focuses on the BBC’s possible relaunch of Top Gear. Here’s a preview:
“The BBC is thinking of relaunching Top Gear, and that’s great. But it’ll be a tricky job because if the hosts have to review all the new electric cars, they’ll need to have a deep understanding of how they work.”
(Usual disclaimers apply as always.)
apples_vs_oranges@reddit
Electric cars are simply much less interesting than gas cars were in the 90's and early 00's. There was a lot more variation back then. Now everything is much more standardized and efficient. And boring. The slightly less boring cars have to add fake engine noises.
iamabigtree@reddit
I disagree. There's an explosion in EV models at the moment and navigating all the new models and new companies is difficult.
apples_vs_oranges@reddit
Tell me how many of them weigh less than 4000 lbs!
iamabigtree@reddit
I have no idea as literally nobody measures car weight in pounds. Are you from the 1960s?
apples_vs_oranges@reddit
1800 kg for those unable to do unit conversions
TheRadBomber@reddit
Yeah all electric cars a essentially the same there’s no real variations between them aside from the styling cause batteries and electric motors all operate the same. Where as what you got with the gas cars was completely different cause they all had different motors with their own unique characteristics from sound to performance to and unique engineering to harness or complement it that gives a car it’s personality or soul. That made for good TV and is why they mostly drove sports cars and super cars and the hot hatchbacks and not the just regular mundane eco boxes unless they were truly bad to make it entertaining. Electric cars have known of that, they just feel like appliances and it’d be hard to make a fun show about that.
openlightYQ@reddit
I was trying to imagine what the car review segments of a new TG would be like, knowing acceleration and top speed are all pretty much the same on the majority of EVs; can you imagine them saying “and listen to THAT!”, flooring it and then marvelling at the slightly different fake sound coming out the speakers? Other than different handling characteristics and boot space, there really would not be much else to review cars on going forward.
klawUK@reddit
all cars except the supercar stuff is much more similar than they are different - ICE included.
TG generally didn’t review many ‘normal’ cars though so the exotica was often talking as much about the feel as the actual engine/tech. And like they used to joke with the Dacia stuff - when the cars that the normal people drive are all 3 cylinder mild hybrids at best, there isn’t much to talk about. Unless they go back to original TG and actually review normal cars for normal people (at least partly)
WySLatestWit@reddit
I genuinely think that all 3 of them would be thrilled to see Top Gear come back. They've been so openly supportive of the rebooting of The Grand Tour with new hosts, and they did aside from a few snide remarks here and there genuinely seem to wish Top Gear's new hosts well when they all left to Amazon. Jeremy's right though. In order to do Top Gear today the hosts would have to be extremely plugged in to the modern world of cars and especially electrics and the show would have to focus a lot on that aspect of things to avoid being a stale, outdated product. Which would inherently turn it into a completely and totally different show than the series previously had been.
I'd be very interested in watching if it were to be rebooted.
Theory3k@reddit
It would allow depend on who the hosts are as to whether I'd watch it. This being a BBC production the chances of seeing any new faces is slim. I wouldnt be surprised if they jam Paddy McGuinness back in the role as the BBC seem determined to keep that guy in a job. Then probably someone utterly irrelevant like Gino DeCampo or some shit. Then maybe chuck Kieth Lemon in as his dusty old joke book hasnt been opened for a while and maybe, just maybe, people will find him funny again.
DoNotCommentAgain@reddit
They had real car fanatics on and you all hated them so they got Paddy.
WySLatestWit@reddit
People didn't hate all the new hosts of top gear after the trio left. They specifically hated Chris Evans. Once Evans left and the new hosts started finding their way people were starting to tune back in again. It just all fell apart when Freddy's accident happened and the bbc mothballed the whole thing.
BeardedAvenger@reddit
I thought the expanded ensemble post-Trio was excellent with the exception of Chris Evans. He is a petrolhead though, so he wasn't a completely off choice. I loved Eddie Jordan and Sabine Schmidt in everything they did, and they seemed great here.
Even the McGuinness, Flintoff and Harris trio I found enjoyable. Could have been better but I thought Harris absolutely shone and for me for really liked Flintoff.
WySLatestWit@reddit
It's why im actually looking forward to tge grand tour reboot. I've watched those throttle house guys on youtube. They're good, they have good chemistry, and they really seem to know there stiff. Best of all tgey already have a good, established chemistry. It would be nice to have a good mainstream A-budget car show again.
Signal_Ball4634@reddit
Wdym, I remember people liking the Leblanc/Harris/Reid trio.
I really wish they'd just replaced Matt (when he was unable to commit time to the show anymore) with another car guy and kept that trio going, Rory and Chris are both entertaining and total gearheads.
breadandbutter123456@reddit
Rory Reid was awful.
Harris and le blanc were much better.
Harris and Freddy were alright. Paddy always seems to think he’s funnier than he actually is. Just don’t know what he is. He’s cheesy.
The original trio actually knew stuff about cars. Gave them credibility when they offered opinions. Freddy and paddy just didn’t know anything about them. Reid did know, but he was too YouTubey, whilst Harris who was on YouTube before, was fantastic ironically.
WySLatestWit@reddit
Harris was really the only one of that era that felt like a genuine "car guy." Maybe Leblanc to a lesser extent. Everybody else just felt like enthusiasts at best.
WySLatestWit@reddit
Exactly. It was really only ever Chris Evans that was a problem. And he was a massive problem. He was a terrible host for Top Gear.
DoNotCommentAgain@reddit
Notice how someone downvoted you just for saying you liked them 😂
I haven't seen anyone else talking positively about them, they all came online and talked shit especially about Matt.
Historical-Foot-7393@reddit
It'll be Mel Geidroyc... or similar. Or someone in a wheelchair. Or Mel Geidroyc in an electric wheelchair..
ThisOneTimeAtLolCamp@reddit
With Virgo passing away recently, apparently the Beeb are rebooting Big Break and unfortunately he's hosting.
Redditvillier@reddit
I'd be surprised if Gino were a name they were thinking of. Didn't he face allegations of bullying a while back? The last thing the BBC need is more controversy
Ferkner@reddit
It's okay if it's a totally different show. The Top Gear we love was completely different than the previous version from before 2002. It being totally different might give it a chance to survive on its own without constant comparisons to the previous version.
Toon1982@reddit
I would revert back nearer to what it was when the 3 started on the show 20+ years ago. Actually review cars again, day-to-day ones in normal circumstances, with a bit of crazy on the side with some souped up cars and challenges like they used to do (like races on various different transports, etc, rather than the huge scale ones that take up the full episode).
WySLatestWit@reddit
If yiu watch stuff from the throttle house guys who are taking over the show that's not far from what they're doing. It's much more "car first" like older top gear was, where actual reviews of cars and their various functions get more attention than anything truly wild or crazy. I think that's what a car show today needs to be. A bit more like Top Gear of the 2000s and a little less like the 2010s.
I think a lot of fans sort of blend everything together in their heads. They seem to forget the show started as something quite different than what it became.
HourAcadia2002@reddit
Openly contractually obligated it seemed.
WySLatestWit@reddit
They have all universally had a very good relationship with Amazon, I wouldn't take the jokes in Grandish Tour about contractual obligations as anything other than tongue and cheek. Same way they joke about Andy Wilman being dead in the opening seconds.
kernowgringo@reddit
*Tounge in cheek
macclearich@reddit
*Tongue
kernowgringo@reddit
Lmao, sigh, oh well
SongsOfDragons@reddit
One of those irritating words to spell.
VanGroteKlasse@reddit
*Thong in cheek
HourAcadia2002@reddit
My comment was tongue in cheek also but also we can't presume what their relationship is.
We can only speculate.
XuX24@reddit
If they are listed as producers they get some benefit from it being good.
HourAcadia2002@reddit
Absolutely. They would be incentivised as well as being aware of the headline hunting tabloids waiting to pounce should they not say anything apart from heap praise even though it may be the 1000th time they've fielded the question.
ElephantParticular10@reddit
Much of the cars now would require a software engineer instead of a racing driver which is a problem for entertainment.
Personally I wouldn't mind (as a bloke who hates mini-Suvs and the bloated shite that gets made now) a female perspective on cars now is long overdue - it's mums who feel they want that higher driving position and space for the kids let's hear what they say.
I think with brand new cars unaffordable and generic - focus on the journeys we take and the second hand market should be explored more as well.
XenophonSoulis@reddit
It wouldn't have to be all three of them. It could be a 2v1 or 1v2 to allow for some pretty cool bickering.
TheMonkeyInCharge@reddit
“have to be extremely plugged in”
Heh
Evening-Ad5765@reddit
It was never about the cars.
First-Can3099@reddit
The article seems to be paywalled but the bigger problem is that YouTube content is now so well produced and varied that car fans don’t have to settle for a generalised car entertainment show that tries to please everyone. The current nostalgia with Willman’s book and hundreds of podcast episodes looking back at the golden years of TG hides the fact that amongst some genuinely great TV moments there was a lot of dull filler.
JelenaBrela@reddit
Filler is important too. A DJ will slip in a chill tune to give the dancing fans a chance to catch their breaths.
_ahrs@reddit
The Sun's website is truly awful.
Turn off JavaScript if you want to bypass the paywall or use this archived link:
https://archive.is/8encC
let_me_atom@reddit
Nearly every new car is a dull grey electric SUV that all look and drive identically. I doubt it would be a car review show at all.
Telephonic77@reddit
I'd argue that you could just say " nearly every new car is a dull grey SUV" which would include the vast amount of boring cars that AREN'T electric, which people that hate EV's and romanticise ICE conveniently seem to forget about. I couldn't care less if the Jukes, 3008's, Pumas, Quashquis etc. die out. In my eyes then fact that everything is enormous is much more annoying that whether it's an EV or not.
let_me_atom@reddit
Struggling to find your point here, apart from the stretch between EV SUVs are boring to "romanticising" ICE cars.
Is it that not all boring new cars are EVs, or that cars are larger in general? Both are true, hence my use of the world nearly, and agree that cars getting larger and larger isn't great. Large EVs though, are worse.
Telephonic77@reddit
My point is everyone bangs on about EV's being boring as if it's specific to EV's but forgets that the majority of new ICE cars are also very boring
let_me_atom@reddit
I don't disagree, but specifically generic mid-sized EV SUVs that are absolutely flooding the market are in a special category of dull. All come in "24 Month Lease Grey", all look identical with zero apparent design language, designed to appeal to the broadest possible market. This is a car sub after all, and wanting something that raises the pulse above that of a coma patient is not asking for a lot.
mattdaddy2025@reddit
Someone get John from Auto Shenanigans on the phone.
davery67@reddit
I subscribe to a YouTube channel called "Aging Wheels" where he really goes into the details of EVs and lives with a fleet of them. It really is a whole different world from combustion cars and I think Jezza is right that you need to a lot of knowledge to really test and evaluate those cars instead of just driving around and spitting out the range numbers from the company's PR department.
Jimmy_Tightlips@reddit
Part of what made Top Gear work is that it's glory days coincided with the absolute best period there's ever been for the car industry.
The new show isn't gonna have a showdown of roaring V8 super saloons, or screaming marvels of engineering like the Carrera GT or LFA - because they aren't allowed to be made anymore.
No matter what anyone on Reddit says - the vast majority of die hard car enthusiasts do not give a single solitary fuck about EVs, and won't be interested in watching a show that, by necessity, will mainly revolve around them.
bobspuds@reddit
That's my thinking about it too.
But I think the period when TopGear got good in the 00s, was more unique than we realise.
Like even the average grocery getter at the time was more interesting than the grocery getter from the 90s, and there was new models being released and updated fairly regularly, that was of interest, they even had some segments on the 2nd hand market that were quite interesting
We're in a completely different time now, back in the 00s cars in general were more interesting and fun than the technology overloaded economy boxes we now have.
But If you think of the cars from that period, the Evo 7 was making its way over as a grey import before we then got the 8 in a UK model, and the Impreza was just coming into its prime mechanically, the GC's are the OG's but the bugeye, blobeye and hawkeye were just coming on scene as the fine tuned weapons they are. - is there a comparable modern grudge match akin to Mitsubishi vrs Subaru?
Y'know even when you drop the supercars and crazy stuff, the 2nd hand car market and the more mundane cars were still much more interesting than today's.
And I think there was probably something about them being the first aswell. Not in the originality way but in the - TopGear was the best and often only source for motoring entertainment in the 00s, there wasn't 500thousand accounts posting videos on YouTube with car stuff back then, for years the quality of TopGears footage was amazing compared with all of the alternatives.
TopGear was of its time, to try keep it going is just flogging a dead donkey now.
The cars they got to show us, the likes of which just won't be made again, cars like the e46 m3 and csl (drool) - sure BMW still make M cars, big heavy boats that are loaded to the tit's with stupid technology and look fecking childish. The e46 was still an analogue car to an extent, and a real looker!. The modern day comparison isn't of interest to me - I'd rather have an old e46 or even better I'd enjoy a e30 325is way more than any newer BMW personally.
Its a different game in a different world and most folks don't seam to realise that
Jimmy_Tightlips@reddit
Agreed.
It's basically the result of the car industry being over-regulated into the ground - stifling creativity.
bobspuds@reddit
I'd also wonder.....
How much of it was because of the cars? Like the cars themselves were interested because cars were still advancing to an extent. Like I'm generalising a bit, but in the 00s FWD was becoming more useful, we were seeing the type-r civic, gti golfs and Lupo, Polo gti's, the hot hatchback idea was still progressing and there was lots of interesting cars to come.
Big Trev was still making monsters in the backstreets of Blackpool, AstonMartin and JAAAAG still had machinery that oozed class, big stinky v8 Mercedes and Brabus models.
Like was it as much about the presenters as we think, they definitely brought a big part to the show, but was it also a case that the content and the vehicles of the time - were just that bit more interesting than our current motoring world is, the presenters were just the cream on top of the cake, who were also just along for the ride because the show was about that time period just before everything became completely safety and economy focused.
If that is the case, then they could resurrect the great Murray Walker to present it, but the content still couldn't be as entertaining
Responsible-Score-88@reddit
The entire concept needs a massive rethink. YouTube has changed what’s available in terms of regular car reviews. They’re not up to scratch of old TG reviews - granted - but that was more the presenters than anything else.
They need to figure out something about the programme to make it worth the watch. Old TG figured out it was actually the Specials people cared about, and made it the focus of TGT. New TG needs to find their own niche to make it interesting. Otherwise it will just die off again
Guardsred70@reddit
He’s hit the problem: nobody is passionate about cars anymore.
It’s basically the death of the manual transmission.
Jai2019@reddit
Grand Tpur didn’t get them, so maybe the Beeb can get the All The Gear chaps.
TSMKFail@reddit
A Top Gear with Jack, Ethan, and Edwin would be elite.
Fat-Shite@reddit
Billy Nye the science guy & Jon Tickle it is
LeastPainter1488@reddit
Bills a bad person
stevey_frac@reddit
I'd watch the shit out of Bill Nye racing Cars around a track, while he tells me how the inverter works specially on this particular EV.
ThisOneTimeAtLolCamp@reddit
All it takes is the right hosts and an updated format.
For example, who wouldn't want to watch Jay Kay and Jenson Button fuck around in something like those little £3 grand temu boats and cars or racing each other in the new HC25 and Femomino?
iamabigtree@reddit
Paywall.
iamabigtree@reddit
I hope they do. It's a big miss on a Sunday.
Despite the hate they'll get here and on the Top Gear sub whoever they are.
Old-Chipmunk-3736@reddit
Nice
t8ne@reddit
It’ll be good to see the alabama tour revisited with electric cars
kh250b1@reddit
Top Gear never went into the technology of cars. So thats bullshit.
damoklis@reddit
It's related to a skit Jeremy did in a Tesla along with some lawyers.
tubbyx7@reddit
Did clarkson ever go into that much detail about the workings of the cars? May made fun of him for boasting hiw his car had f1 type push rod suspension but couldn't say what that means.
EVs are going to develop character now there's so many. They cant all rely on 0-60 and range alone. There's plenty for new hosts to do in the goofball road trip realm with new and old cars.
WySLatestWit@reddit
Clarkson's oafishness when it comes to the actual mechanics of cars got exaggerated to the point of "Flanderizing" him in Grand Tour, and I say that as someone who very much likes Grand Tour. If you watch Top Gear he did showcase a lot more actual knowledge about cars. In fact that is one of the main differences that always comes to mind for me when thinking about Top Gear vs Grand Tour. Grand Tour was an adventure series in which cares were the means by which adventure was had. Top Gear was frequently much more about the minutia of cars.
Over time Top Gear's more substantive reviews and focus on the design and mechanics of cars started to fall away and it began the transition into what Grand Tour ultimately would be, but for the prime of TG I genuinely see it as more of a "car show" than GT.
PeteInBrissie@reddit
A great example of this is when he was under the back of the Carrera GT.
WySLatestWit@reddit
Or figuring out what was wrong with his buggy and how to fix it in one of the beach buggy episodes.
ConsistencyWelder@reddit
You're probably right. But we also should be honest about those segments. They had a team of mechanics doing the actual troubleshooting and repairs. Just as with the "upgrade" segments, the hosts were probably involved on some level, but most of it was done by the team.
Blitzy_krieg@reddit
Grand Tour also became, tame? Miss TG jokes.
WeDoingThisAgainRWe@reddit
He wasn’t the only one on the show and yes they did go into some detail based on understanding how cars actually work.
F4C___@reddit
The key is to be able to understand exactly what makes an EV tick, and then find a way to convey it to an audience. Many of whom probably won’t be too knowledgeable about EVs, or cars in general.
EVs are still a relatively new technology. It will take time but eventually they will develop their own individual characters and features compared to petrols/diesels.
kevins718@reddit
For him to say that flappy pedal are rubbish or V8 are better in a couple seconds, he need to understand what those are. So I think he learnt it then find a way for general public to understand
Impossible_Honey3553@reddit
It’s paywalled
Idlehost@reddit
The BBC could do a lot worse than tapping up the Fully Charged team for ideas and talent. Robert Llewellyn is probably too old to take a screen role but given how that show has been building up it's team and industry connections, I'm sure there must be opportunities for some of their talent to provide production support.
kevins718@reddit
Yes he’s right, to make top gear interesting for now. The presenters and writers need to understand deeply about the car they’ll feature, so they can simplify it to general public as “good” or “bad”. Otherwise it’s just hogwash and people catch on eventually that the presenter doesn’t know anything
FederalSpecialist415@reddit
Lot of appeal in Top Gear was the engine roar, electric cars would just be a silent object going round and round..