BBC Top Gear in US TV deal talks.

Highest BBC2 ratings in 10 years, a new deal for a US version of the show, but we have to wait until the autumn for another series – what’s wrong with this picture?

That's the Beeb for you.

Will there not be a special one-off or some such before the autumn? I was sure that was what all the back-and-forth was about with Clarkson's column in The Sun and the BBC announcement at the end of the last series?

The article says the show returns in the autumn.

There could be a special over the summer, but traditionally there has been a 6/8 week series around May/June time.

I suppose this could just be the knock on effect from Richard Hammond's crash, in which case it is understandable, but it doesn't read like that . . .

As being a bit of a fan of Top Gear- There will be a special in Summer, then it will come back later this year.


It doesn't even apply to me and I know this. How sad is that.

That's weird, I'm not sure America would "get" Top Gear.....especially when they slag off practically all American cars.

To be fair, so do most Americans. And it won an Emmy, if memory serves.

Well, it sounds like they're remaking it to osme extent, with American presenters and such.

And the episodes that aired on the Discovery Channel edited out all the offensive stuff and it was really quite watered down.



I know too much about this.

Oooooooh, yes.

No, the US version would feature Clarkson, Hammond and May - according to the article above anyway - and it did win an international Emmy in 2005 for the best unscripted entertainment show.

Oh, right. I should've read the article properly.

Yeah right. I love it but I wonder how much of it is actually unscripted.

Be interesting to see an Americanised version of Top Gear, what they would change, what they'd keep the same - I hear even The Stig is going out there with them too - and would the Beeb show it over here?

Apparently the format is going to remain unchanged but the focus will be on American cars. They will probably tone down the insults of American cars though since it's one thing for an American to knock their own cars but another for three English people to do it.

Well, I heard an interview with Clarkson when they won the Emmy and he excused himself at the end saying he had to go as he had to write the script for the best unscripted show on telly.

We got Top Gear down here in AU.

However, the episode we saw last week -- the batmobile was on. The new one. And Batman Begins was "Just about to Hit Cinemas".

We are 16-19 months behind depending on the time of year, which is totally unacceptable.

Yep you guys are way behind, weve had an olympic winter special, a road trip across the States and tractor drag racing since then...but all good things to those who wait

That's really unusual, because we're going to be getting series 9 probably in the next 2 months.
Normally Aussie is ahead of us in terms of shows o_O

Just in case people haven't heard, there is a Top Gear speical on tonight (Wednesday 25th) on BBC2 at 8pm.

Clarkson and May (in a car) race Hammond (on a sledge) to the North Pole.

At least there won't be any Hillbillys around this time . . .

Ya'll tryin' to see how long it would take to get beat up in an Eskimo town?!

Jeremy plans to offend all the peoples of the world.

I refuse to believe the stuff like going caravanning and it setting on fire, or destroying the carwash with the peoplecarrier are unscripted.

Still entertaining enough though, as is May's new show.

An excellent special I thought. The usual brand of humour with a real sense of adventure - I was actually quite sad when Hamster didn't win, I think it was his little face... heartbreaking.

It was when he said he'd had a little cry. Poor little Richard.

Although it was entertaining, Top Gear just doesn't seem as spontaneous as it did a couple of years ago, and I can't help wondering how much of tonight's show was genuine . . .

Read the production notes that they publish on the website for episodes, they freely admit that there are certain staged things going on, although the cow that Jeremy found in America really was found dead (though it wasn't roadkill) and really was leaking foul juices. Since the flaming caravan I've accepted that a lot is scripted, but that doesn't make it any less funny to me. Jeremy's face when James pulled out the Chablis was brilliant, and his comment about having to survive the last 3 days on only Gin was funny. On the other hand I think there are unscripted moments as well, like when the survival guy shoved Jeremy in the water, the look on his face makes me think that was not planned or expected. And I don't think they'd ever lie about anything, like how long it takes or who wins or something. One thing I did think though, they were on vapours when they reached the North Pole, so how did they drive back?

I'm guessing they were airlifted out, I can't see them doing the reverse journey as well.

I didn't like his silly global warming comment at the end. Even if much of it is staged - especially in that special - I still enjoy the show until Jez starts blabbing rubbish about the environment.

Yeah, that was a load of bollocks, although there was some truth in what he said -so far, climate change ahs only scratched the surface, that suggests that we don't have to worry about it, but scratching the surface is still a major issue and something that needs to be addressed.

And if he was indeed airlifted out, then that also disproves their 'easy way to the pole' theory, as there is already an easy way, by plane/helicopter.

By the way, the majority of the 'staging' is that most of the external shots are filmed after the event by the production team taking the cars back along the routes they've travelled over a period of days. Something that struck me was - when they got the car wedged for 8 hours on 2 blocks of ice, and the other 2 vehicles were off in the distance also stuck, where did a camera crew come from?

I took that to be a comment on the nature of the boulder field more than anything else, I'm guessing the camera crew just walked.

One thing that made me wonder how staged it was, was the way they were driving across the "thin ice" area - surely, after the crash Hammond had last year, there is no way the Beeb would let Clarkson and May drive across an ice field where there was a possibility that they might end up in the drink?

Will he ever learn?

Yeah, it wasn't very bad this time though was it? I think the only reason it's in the news is because of his Big Crash™ last year. Look at any racing driver and they probably have tons of crashes each year. If he's entering races and high speed events, then statistically he's likely to have a few more crashes now and then.

Yes, it's a complete non-story really, it's only become a story because of what happened last year.

I should add that I'm glad to see he's ok this time. It would be terrible for him to have another serious accident as I think he's a genuinely funny and enthusiastic presenter, and if it weren't for him Jeremy Clarkson would be at times unbearable on Top Gear.

Richard Hammond not yet fully recovered.

In similar cars and crashes related news, Colin McRae dead...

Edit: Actually this is probably already in the news thread or something, but still...

That really was very good tonight - if you missed it, be sure to catch the repeat on Wednesday!

Ive taped it along with Long Way Down so will be watching in bed later on!

Not as genuinely laugh out loud as Clarkson in the world's smallest car but as a whole that episode was the funniest in a long while. It's good to see that they aren't just going for the big unnecessary challenges all the time; small ones with crap cars are just as funny, if not more so.

It was funny last night. The challenge was excellent.

And they beat last week's record with 4 'poofs, eh lads?' gags during the news.

...and Jennifer Saunders was rather impressive, she should come back and try again if only to knock Cowell off the top spot.

Cap'n Slow finally won a challenge!

He's won some before (the shooting one in the Winter Olympics special and the oiginal aqua-car challenge).

Its been a while since between challenges since his last win...deep down inside he is just as competitive as the other two.

One of my fave challenges was from the other week where the Stig took the bus and Tube...cracking episode.

Richard winning it by cycling just reiterated his amazing recovery from the crash. Loved it.

Did anyone not wince when Clarkson commented something like Stig was pleased he wasn't mistaken for a brazilian electrician

I did a little 'O' with my mouth when I spotted it on the repeat.

Lewis Hamilton takes Top Gear challenge - this Sunday, 8.00pm!

Hamilton in the Liana, cant wait

Ok so it was going well.... Fight Club and Back to the Future music...and then they reveal James Blunt.

Blunt is like a Spitting Image puppet, the posh little tosser.

And more hilarious homophobia from Clarkson. He's getting on my nerves more and more these days.