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  2. Clarkson is a talented broadcaster. I realise that he is complete and utter anathema to many here but that’s the reality.

    I see why they have opted for Evans as a near beer aging lad but he lacks Clarkson’s shrewdness and finely tuned antennae for an audience that is surprisingly younger and more female than you might think.

    Personally, I think they should ditch the whole thing as it was the chemistry between boorish Jezza, small Hamster and boring James that made it work.

    Unless it is a wholly new line as partially implied by the press release, It won’t work with Evans, and the other two.

    Even if it is a completely new team, Top Gear will be canned within a year. Mark my words. I’m off to Ladbroke’s

  3. I quite like Chris Evans as a presenter – more so after reading his autobiography where he comes across as grateful for his position, and appears to have learned from his past experience. I don’t like him when he tries too hard (bits of recent TFI, and most of his R2 output).
    Will be interesting to see how it will be done, and who else will be involved (seems unlikely Hammond and May will be on-board after hearing about the Netflix offer).
    Top Gear, at its heart, was a proper car show. The re-invention in 2000s moved it from niche programme to mass entertainment. Without the original line-up, another re-invention may have to be formulated.

    TFI Top Gear ?

  4. It would be foolish to try and emulate the last version of the show – it needs a fresh start to have a chance, new format, all new presenters.
    Even then, people will still think of whatever Clarkson Hammond & May do next as the ‘real’ new Top Gear.

  5. Clarkson wasn’t just the presenter. It was his baby. Well, his and Andy Wilman’s. It’ll be a disaster under Evans. His rumoured co-presenters (Suzi Perry & Jason Plato) suggest that they’ll be looking to make a more traditional motoring show, which is not what the public want.

    • Traditional motoring show?
      Lets hope so.
      Whilst the general public don’t want it, this member of the public does.
      I know Top Gear was an “entertainment” show (or Travel Show if they needed to get Visas in America), but there are some sad muppets about (like me) who would like a proper Motoring show like old Top Gear was, with a bit of stunts, films, adventures thrown into the mix). Sort of the inverse of what Top Gear provided in later years.

      (and in the spirit of laddish boorishness, which Top Gear has become synonymous with, if Suzi Perry is on it gives me another reason to watch it)

    • I wouldn’t mind a public service broadcaster telling me what I could get in the second hand market for under five grand that can do 50 mpg and cruise comfortably on the motorway. And who wouldn’t also enjoy a nostalgic look back at the various interior trims that were offered for the Hillman Hunter?

    • Frankly I grew tired of the overgrown schoolboy pranks years ago. Top Gear ran out of steam a while ago and Clarkson increasingly became a parody of himself.

      If the public want Last Of The Summer Top Gear let them watch it on Netflix. Chris Evans is a good choice. He loves cars and if they get the mix right between being informative and entertaining, I don’t see why it can’t build an audience. It needs reinventing.

  8. I don’t mind Evans in reasonable doses (though I’ve stopped listening to his r2 show now and tend to go 5/4extra), and I like Top Gear. This, I’m not sold on. The whole dynamic of the show was built on those three: without them, I’m unsure the format will support it.

  9. Jesus! I cannot abide Chris Evans. And that TFI Friday thing reminded of all I hated about the 90’s. I once heard Evans proclaim to ‘the kids’ that they should consider themselves luck to be living in the era of Britpop – the best time ever for British music. What a prick!

  16. My bearing sagged a little when I heard the news. Love Top Gear…Chris Evans brings nothing but banality and pain to everything he touches but I’m nothing if not fair so I’ll give it a go. This is the worst possible start it could have , however, in my view.

    OK, Rose West aside, that is.

    • UP. Indupitably the best idea possible. Tommy could do a whole series, with Hammond and May also on board, and NO ONE would complain. And Jezza would approve – and I don’t mean send a banal tweet, I mean laugh his socks off at the prospect and open a really expensive bottle to toast its success. Genius idea. Give this man a commissioning budget immediately. Call Evans, tell him to sling his ginger hook. Get the other two on the blower, we have work to do. Can we get that Welsh bird Ruth Jones to be Stig? Brilliant! We can call him Stigz!!!

  21. I’ve never been a fan of Top Gear in any of it’s incarnations. I’m just not even slightly petrol-headed.

    Clarkson is a talented presenter but I don’t like him at all. Ditto for his toadies Hamster and May. I have watched a few episodes of the show’s more recent incarnation, and even sort-of enjoyed them, but I always wondered why afterwards.

    Personally, I think the Beeb should sell the title back to Clarkson and wash their hands of it. It’s doomed with any other presenting team I can think of.

  22. The choice of Evans is one thing. His salary is another entirely. Five million a year! It really is absurd and I resent the BBC spending Hollywood money on a capable but ultimately, charmless mouth. There must be some great new talent out there itching for this kind of opportunity who could make a better fist of it than Evans for a fraction of the price.

    • It’s not that amount, and it’s not the BBC’s money anyway as I understand it. It’s BBC Worldwide’s money, and they are a separate, non licence-fee funded commercial production company who flog stuff across the globe, making money for the actual BBC.

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