And what do we know about them?
You already, I think, are aware that the leaders in the new top gear there will be a lot - six plus the Stig. And the format of the show, as BBC-shniki say, will be completely different.
Pictured (left to right): Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz, Matt LeBlanc, Chris Evans, Chris Harris, Eddie Jordan and the unrivaled Stig.
Perhaps you know some of the personalities from this list well, but you have only heard about some. For me personally, a couple of them were a revelation. Who are you…? And where? Now that the cards are open, the new stars are starting to do a little bit of interviews, talk about their passion for cars, their accomplishments, their enthusiasm and dedication to Top Gear, and all that. I propose to briefly get acquainted with each, having learned interesting facts, and then express your opinion in the comments, who sympathizes with you the most.
Top Gear Boss
So called in the team almost 50-year-old Chris Evans (Chris Evans). It was about him, as the main presenter of the new Top Gear, that we learned the earliest, back in June 2015. It was he who put an end to rumors and hopes that the legendary trio (Clarkson, Hammond and May) would still be returned. The BBC chose between him and Stephen Fry (comedian, playwright), gorgeous Jodie Kidd (model, actress) and Rowan Atkinson (it's Mr. Bean!!! Weakly represent him in Top Gear ...).
When Evans was cast for the role, he said: “I'm shocked, Top Gear is the most the best program for me, this is the best job in my life and the most serious. It was created by brilliant minds who love cars very much and understand how to show super complex work as fun, reckless and easy. It may not actually be true, but in any case, the success of Top Gear is ensured by geniuses. I will do everything in my power to restore the program to its former respect and start moving forward.
Who is Chris Evans? Popular British radio and TV presenter (DJ), businessman, producer and collector of premium cars. To be honest, before he was taken to Top Gear, I had not heard about his work and activities, British radio and TV is not my weakness. Evans began his career as a radio presenter in Manchester. Then he moved to the capital (London), worked for Greater London Radio. He became popular thanks to the show “Big Breakfast” (“Big Breakfast”) on Channel 4, where he acted as one of the presenters since 1992. Later he worked for many TV and radio stations in London and in 1996 he appeared as a TV producer on the TFI Friday show. Evans has made three guest appearances on Top Gear since 2005.
Regarding himself in the new Top Gear, Evans notes that he will not repeat what the previous presenters did, will not copy their format and manner. “Because they were great,” he notes. “They were like the Three Stooges, like the Bee Gees, but I am me.”
The process of relaunching Top Gear Evans is "the hardest". He is tasked with keeping the audience of the show, which is estimated at 350 million viewers around the world!!! Try to please everyone!
He was recently asked if he would be the fastest on the Top Gear track. To which he replied: “It will definitely not be me ... and not Eddie!”. The most fast speed to which he accelerated - 320 km / h and it was on the McLaren 675LT. And I immediately remembered a recent story of how he got sick during the filming of the new Top Gear, when Sabina Schmitz was driving, he was in the passenger seat and they raced along the highway in Monterey (California) in an Audi R8 V10. I wonder if this will be shown in full detail in a series of shows?
Well, okay, “swept through” (burped) and everyone forgot. But the fact that Evans has about two hundred cars in the garage is impressive!!! He loves retro, he's a fan of Ferrari. From time to time he sells his exhibits and acquires something new. Therefore, he has long become a regular at specialized auctions. For example, in September last year, he "leaked" 13 swallows at once. Here you can see which ones and for how much. And part of the money was transferred to the Children In Need Foundation. Plans to sell another 140 cars from his collection. In short, he is threatened with a secure old age, no matter how boring it may sound.
Blonde
Top Gear now has presenters for every taste in order to reach the maximum audience. The beautiful half of humanity is represented by the already mentioned Sabine Schmitz. Racer and TV presenter. She was born and lived in the German city of Adenau near the Nürburgring race track. But in fact, it seems to me that she lived precisely on the replaced track and knows her every centimeter and crack.
She made her first lap around the Nürburgring at the age of 17 in her mother's BMW 325i, without having a license! At nineteen, she set the course record in a Ford Sierra Cosworth (9:16). In 2004, Sabina on Top Gear, trying to beat Jeremy Clarkson's time in a Jaguar S-type 2.7 V6 Diesel, set another record of 9:12. According to her own estimates, until 2007, Schmitz made 14-15 thousand circles around the Nürburgring. I wound most of it on the BMW M5 Ring Taxi.
Due to both careful and masterful attitude to the track, Sabina was nicknamed the "Queen of the North Loop" (German: Die Königin die Nordschleife). She says her favorite sites are Schwedenkreuz and Fuchsröhre. She also participated in various competitions and has many awards. And of course she shone in some episodes of the former Top Gear.
The TV experience began in September 2006, when she started hosting with Tim Schrick and Karsten van Ryssen. german show"D Motor" on the channel "D MAX". Due to low ratings, the show was canceled at the end of 2008. And since the beginning of 2011, she, also with Tim Shrik, hosted the Turbo show on the Sport 1 channel. Her highest speed is 350 km / h. “I raced down the Autobahn in my friend’s Ferrari F12,” she recently admitted.
Joey!
Joey from Friends! As for me, this is good news. It's already interesting how funny Matt LeBlanc will host the show. I will not write much about him, you know him from his filmography. LeBlanc has also made numerous previous appearances on Top Gear. As a "star in a budget car" he even managed to set a lap record on a KIA Cee`d (1 minute 42.1 seconds). And no one has beaten him yet.
"I'm crazy about cars and also a huge fan of Top Gear, so I'm extremely proud and excited to be part of the new chapter of this legendary show," Matt LeBlanc commented on his new "role". He also dreams of participating in the World Rally Championship. “There are amazing cars. Ken Block got a ride on me once and I was blown away. The guy is a master!” says Matt.
It's also interesting that LeBlanc will be the first non-British Top Gear presenter since the show's inception (by the way, the show turns 39 this year!).
Wise old man
Eddie Jordan. Founder and former owner Jordan team in Formula 1. He worked with such successful pilots as Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill. And now it's going to be with a bunch of comedians. What will he do - HZ ?! Probably fire up! Little is known about him or from him.
Youtube-rrrr
Chris Harris. Rising YouTube star (more than 300K subscribers on the channel), journalist (previously worked in well-known automotive magazines), drifter. Rides sideways on everything he sees. He says to himself that he may not be as cheerful as Jeremy Clarkson, but "he drives very OK." You can appreciate his skill on his channel, though nothing has been released there for 3 months, you yourself understand why.
Speaking of himself on the new show, he is very modest: “Top Gear is what shaped the automotive part of my life, my perception of cars and my obsession with cars, and I can't wait to add drive to it. And I don’t go into my pocket for a word and I like to get into trouble. And if things go wrong, well, I can say that I was once on Top Gear and then be the same annoying Youtube dude again.”
The highest speed in a car in his life is 365 km / h. So he broke up the Veyron and thought that no one would know about his pranks; but Bugatti keeps track of what's going on with the cars in their test fleet, so the next day they called him and said, “Rory, yay yay, did you drive last night? Well, how?
Man from the street
Remember the BBC announced that a new presenter would be chosen through "public auditions": record a 30 second video about yourself so that everyone will be surprised, come and maybe you'll get lucky. That is how the simpleton Rory Reid (journalist), who daily drives a one-liter Ford Focus Eco Boost, got into this company. “When I submitted a 30-second recording for listening, I was sure that I had no chance. Now I am very proud to be the only one who went through this whole selection process. I've been a Top Gear fan for decades, and I live and breathe cars, so I'm a great fit for this show,” he notes.
More interesting information there is no news about the new star yet, even normal photos. Looking forward to appearing on Top Gear.
stig
He was, is and will be. And about himself in the new format of the show he said: “-.-. …… – … -..- / .-. .–. .-. , /…. - -. .-.-.-,". As always informative!
N-yeah, the company turned out to be the same ...
The other day in Liverpool at the annual BBC Worldwide Showcase, there was a presentation of the new Top Gear team. The only person missing from the event was Eddie Jordan. The reason is not known. See photo:
Let me remind you that Top Gear will return to the air of the British TV channel BBC in May 2016. We look forward to evaluating and dotting all the “and”.
- , 23 Feb 2016
Top Gear (read Top gear, translated as Top gear) - without exaggeration, we can say that this is the most famous car transmission in the world. Even the Guinness Book of Records did not bypass this show and awarded it in 2012 the title of the most popular program in the world with indicators: 212 broadcast countries and 350 million viewers.
For most, Top Gear is inextricably linked with the names of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, but not many people know that its roots go back to 1977 (Hammond was only 7 years old then). Somewhere in the bowels of the BBC television company, a car show was born, which talked about the latest in the car market and car-related topics. There were two presenters then - Noel Edmonds and William Woollard, but their names are unlikely to tell you anything.
This continued until 1987, when the show's recent producer, John Bentley, brought in former Formula 1 driver Tiff Needle and young auto journalist Jeremy Clarkson as hosts. The program lacked liveliness and freshness; the previous monotonous and boring form of narration got fed up with the audience. And Needle and Clarkson coped with this task perfectly, the ratings went up, the program got a second wind.
More to come - more presenters, more popularity, more criticism ... From 1990 to 1999, representatives of the beautiful half of humanity Michelle Newman and Vicki Butler-Henderson appeared on Top Gear. In addition to them, Steve Berry, the above-mentioned John Bentley, Brendan Coogan, James May and many others appeared on the show. In the mid-90s, this classic Top Gear format reached its peak of popularity among audiences. At the same time, the program was criticized for promoting dangerous driving, disrespect for environment and other problems one way or another related to cars.
Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, and this established format was no exception, in 1999-2000 the ratings fell, several presenters left the show, and in 2001 the BBC decided to close Top Gear. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining, Jeremy Clarkson came to the rescue again. Together with producer Andy Wilman, they proposed new format the show we all know is the same Top Gear. The show was originally hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Jason Doe, who tested budget cars and didn't fit in well. The last one in the second season was replaced by our well-known James May. Also in the updated show, a “tamed racer” appeared - Stig, whose identity is always kept secret and gives the program a share of intrigue. Innovations include the “Wall of coolness”, and the heading “Star in a budget car”, and new manner submission of stories. The icing on the cake was the so-called Top Gear specials, in which the presenters went on a journey, simultaneously completing the tasks of the producers.
The idyll continued until the spring of 2015, when Jeremy Clarkson flared up because after a whole day of shooting he discovered that the food for the hosts was not ready, quarreled with the assistant producer on this basis and even hit him. The BBC management reacted quickly and harshly, Jeremy was suspended from work, and the planned releases of the remaining episodes of the season were taken off the air (they were later carried out by Hammond and May in an empty studio without an audience). Clarkson, in his characteristically ironically cynical manner, tweeted about this: “I shot some good documentaries about war. Let them show one of them (instead of Top Gear)." Fans of the show created a petition on Change.org calling for the return of their favorite presenter, which, by the way, has collected more than 1 million signatures. But despite the huge potential losses that the broadcaster would have suffered due to the loss of Clarkson, his contract was not renewed for the next season. May and Hammond, in solidarity with their friend, also did not sign contracts for the new season.
It was later announced that the show would not disappear, but would return to next season with new faces
mi and in a fresh format. Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc, Sabine Schmitz, Eddie Jordan, Chris Harris and Rory Reed are the new Top Gear hosts. Of the old line-up, only the Stig remained. The newcomers failed to hook the audience, the program caused a tsunami of criticism, and the innovations were cosmetic rather than revolutionary. At the end of the 23rd season, it became known that LeBlanc wanted to leave the show if Chris Evans did not leave him. Public opinion was not on Evans' side, so he voluntarily left the reformatted Top Gear. The fate of the rest of his colleagues is still unknown, but most likely they will return in the 24th season.
- Some interesting facts about Top Gear:
- The musical theme that opens the show and sounds at the opening is a song Jessica American group The Allman Brothers Band:
Television shows rarely earn cult status because constant attention viewers for a long time is difficult enough. British Top Gear succeeded. The show has gained cult status, and Top Gear hosts have become incredibly popular personalities. They are recognized in person in any country in the world, they are immensely adored and look forward to appearing on the screen. We'll talk about who hosts Top Gear today.
Start
In 1977, Top Gear appeared on British television. She came out at that time in the format of a TV magazine and practically did not differ from other television programs about cars. For a long time, the transmission format remained unchanged. When it became clear that something needed to be changed, it was decided to restart Top Gear. The presenters, whose names were later known to the whole world, initially did not take part in the creation of the program, except for Jeremy Clarson and James May.
Show reboot
In 2002, the BBC decided to completely revamp the program. Its format was changed and new Top Gear hosts were invited. They were Richard Hammond, James May and returning to the show Jeremy Clarkson. In addition to this trinity, the Stig test rider began to participate in the filming of the program, hiding his face behind a helmet.
The decision to reboot turned out to be correct. The new show has acquired its own unique, unique style. Top Gear's hosts, with their uninhibited demeanor and humor, became instant favorites with the public. In its best years, the audience of the program reached 360 million viewers.
Jeremy Clarkson
He came to Top Gear (photos of the hosts of the program are presented below) in 1988 and brought a lot of new things: interesting ideas, his original manner of communication and rude humor, often beyond the bounds of the permissible. But the audience really liked it, and the ratings of the program began to grow. If initially only a few hundred viewers watched it, then with the advent of Clarkson, their number began to increase. In 1999, the host leaves the program. The reason was his desire to try himself in new projects. Without the eccentric Clarkson, the ratings of the program fell, and the BBC decided to suspend the creation of new releases.
In 2002, Clarkson returns with a proposal for a complete reboot of the show. The producers and management of the BBC took a chance and did not lose. Top Gear went from educational to entertaining bright show, one minute of which cost a lot of money.
Richard Hammond
Before joining the show, he worked on radio. He is sometimes referred to as Hamster by fellow program members and fans of the show. In one of the episodes of the program, Hammond, imitating the behavior of a hamster, ate a cardboard sign. Participation in the show almost ended tragically for the presenter - while piloting a car, he had an accident. Everything worked out, but Hammond asked his colleagues never to mention this incident again.
Top Gear hosts are ardent fans of cars, and no exception. He loves Porsche cars and owns several expensive cars.
James May
Prior to Top Gear, he worked as a journalist for several publications and as a host on two television programs. In 1999, he became the co-host of Top Gear. After the reboot, the show returned to it in its second season. For his extremely cautious driving style, he received the nickname Captain Snail from his colleagues.
stig
Mysterious Machine Tester for a long time remained incognito. All attempts to find out his name were always reduced to jokes by the Top Gear hosts - they said that he was not a person, but a robot, or they called him a “tamed racer”. The Stig, however, was a full-fledged host of the show, and his name was always in the credits for the program. In total, three different Stigs took part in the filming of the program - Perry McCarthy and Ben Collins. Who is hiding under the guise of the third Stig is unknown.
Departure of Clarkson and other hosts - the show must go on
At the end of March 2015, the fans of the program were upset by the shocking news - oldest member the show that founded it, Jeremy Clarkson, was fired by the decision of the BBC management. Blame was the explosive nature of the presenter. There have been problems with Clarkson before. He was never distinguished by caution in his statements and tact in his judgments. Repeatedly he had to publicly apologize for his misdeeds. The last straw for the BBC was Clarkson's conflict with one of the show's producers over the lack of hot food on set. On March 25, he was fired. The rest of the Top Gear hosts showed solidarity with Clarkson and announced their departure from the show. Now they are planning a world tour.
Jeremy Clarkson plans to create his own show dedicated to cars. It is still unknown about the format and the TV company that will shelter the disgraced presenter. He was invited to participate in comedy program BBC, but in April 2015 he pulled out of the show.
If the program could survive the loss of one participant, then the departure of all put an end to the history of Top Gear. But the BBC decided to try and keep one of its best television shows. The names of the new presenters of the program are already known. Chris Evans, presenter, producer and businessman, was the first to officially announce his participation in the show. He has long been a fan of the program and without hesitation signed a contract with the BBC for three years.
As the main presenter, he was given the opportunity to pick new team. Evans chose Sabina Schmitz, a famous German racing driver, to be his co-host. Prior to that, she took part in the filming of several issues of Top Gear as an invited guest. Another host of the show was automotive journalist Chris Harris.
David Coulthard is the name of the fourth host of the revamped show. This is a Scottish racing driver and former pilot"Formula 1". In 2012, he ended his career on the race track and is now trying his hand at a new role as a presenter.
The most unexpected news was the fact that one of the co-hosts of the program will be the star of the TV series Friends, beloved by many viewers, Matt LeBlanc. By the way, he will become the first foreign permanent member show throughout its history. Many fans of the program took the appearance of LeBlanc in it as an attempt to decorate the show and draw attention to it. This is wrong. is a big fan of cars, is familiar with many famous racers and tries not to miss a single Formula 1 race.
The names of the new presenters did not cause a stir among the fans of the program. According to most viewers, no one can replace former members show. Top Gear has already lost about 5 million viewers.
The release of the new Top Gear is scheduled for May 8, 2016. It is then that it will become clear whether the BBC has managed to assemble a bright team that can outshine the former Top Gear hosts. Given their popularity, it's hard to believe in the success of the updated show.
Top Gear - British TV program dedicated to cars and everything connected with them. The show began airing in 1977. At first it was a video magazine. But in 2002 things changed. The cycle has been restarted. During these events, Top Gear became what today's fans know it to be.
To Top Gear introduced humor and copyright chips. Top Gear's main hosts are Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and the super racer who never takes off his helmet, or rather, almost never, The Stig. The officially registered audience of the program broadcast is 350 million people.
Old Top Gear presenters
Jeremy Clarkson
This man played significant role in the formation of the original format of the program, helped her reach the top in the 90s. With Andy Wilman (TV show producer) he proposed to restart the show with a new development vector.
Full name- Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson. He was born on April 11, 1960 in Docaster, UK (South Yorkshire). Jeremy - TV presenter and journalist, main professional activity which comes down to the topic of cars. He gained fame as the host of the BBC Top Gear show. Top Gear won an Emmy in 2005.
Jeremy also writes regular columns for the Sunday Times and the Sun. He is considered the first person (together with D. May) who managed to reach the north pole of the planet by car. This event was included in one of the issues of Top Gear.
Career worldwide famous TV presenter began as a local journalist in the North of England. Public famous person Clarkson became only after participating in the original Top Gear in 1988. Already in the mid-90s, he became a public person and often appeared in different programs on British television (these were both his shows and those where he made a guest). It is noteworthy that the presenter was not limited only to automotive topics. He produced programs related to books, history and technology. In the period from 98 to 00, he also participated in own show named "Clarkson".
Some actions, both in public life and as a Top Gear TV presenter, often led to a flurry of criticism from newspapers of politicians, the media, and society as a whole. He once gave an interview in which he mentioned that his whole life moves according to a simple pattern: "I ate, slept, wrote and re-wrote." Despite all the condemnation, Jeremy is considered the main reason for the inspiration and "second life" of the program, which later became the most requested show on the BBC.
Attention! In 2007, Clarkson received a major award at the National Television Awards. It also became known to the public that for 12 months of work on Top Gear, the presenter earned about 1,000,000 pounds, he received another 1.7 million from the sale of his own books and DVDs.
In 2009, the 14th season of the TV show appeared. Not all viewers liked it. Many accused the creators of stereotyped. In December, there was a broadcast on the radio "Point of View", where Janice Hadlow (supervisor of BBC 2 channel) stated that the criticism was unreasonable, and the audience of the show was really huge.
However, later Andy Wilman did not deny the fact that the presenters heavily use television images from Top Gear.
In 2015, the TV channel decided to fire Jeremy Clarkson. Following the main face of the program, colleagues Richard Hammond and James May followed, as well as Top Gear producer Andy Wilman.
Richard Hammond
Richard Mark Hammond is one of the hosts of Top Gear. He was born December 19, 1969 in Birmingham. Became known to the public on the transfers of Top Gear and "Puzzles". He was a car presenter from 2002 to 2015.
He has his own column in the magazine The Daily Mirror. It comes out every Friday. He worked for several radio stations early in his career, before becoming the host of a lifestyle and auto-related TV show on Men & Motors.
He got into Top Gear in 2002, the year the show had already received a new format. He was sometimes referred to as a hamster by other hosts and fans. He is a big fan of the Porsche brand, in particular the 911 model.
In 2006, when one of the Top Gear episodes was being filmed, the presenter got into a traffic accident. According to the script, Richard was to test the Vampire jet-powered car (its upper speed limit is 500 km). At a speed of 518 km per hour, the presenter took off from the runway. The car overturned and stretched across the lawn. The cause of the accident was a tire that could not bear the load and burst.
James May
James May is an English journalist and co-host of the beloved TV show Top Gear. He was born on January 16, 1963 in Bristol. He owns a column dedicated to auto topics in The Daily Telegraph.
He stood out for his careful driving behavior, for which his colleagues in the shop nicknamed him "Captain Snail" or "Captain Brake". However, none of this prevented him from developing the Bugatti Viron to the maximum possible speed of 407 km / h, and later, in 10, increase the record to 417 km / h on the Viron 16.4 Super Sport.
Among other things, James May is a man who was in Clarkson's team (along with them there was a support group from Iceland), together they managed to get to the North Pole in a specially converted car. Jeremy believes that May was the first who managed to check in there, having no desire.
It is noteworthy that despite the numerous chuckles due to the host's hairstyle, driving style, Jaime is a significant part of the trio: his fellow colleagues always consult his opinion on the structure or change of the car before correcting anything.
He is afraid of heights, although this fact is not difficult to dispute, given the fact that he has a flying license.
stig
The Stig is the main test driver at Top Gear. The hosts tend to laugh it off when it comes to questions about this character's identity, telling everyone that he's just a simple robot. In the program, the Stig is given the role of the secret "Tamed Racer". At the same time, the character is indicated in the credits of the program as a full-fledged presenter, next to Jeremy, Richard and James.
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The main task entrusted to the shoulders of the Stig is to drive cars around the test site at Dunsfold Park. The results of his races are displayed on a separate scoreboard. Also, guests are often invited to Top Gear, usually actors, musicians and other famous personalities.
Stig trains all participants on a test track, then the "stars" run a test lap in a cheap car. Their arrival is also placed on a separate scoreboard. In the first seven seasons, the Suzuki Liana was used as a “racing” model, then until the 14th season, celebrities were given the Chevrolet Lacetti. Then, until the 19th season, guests were offered the Kia Ceed. As a result, the role of a budget car was assigned to the Vauxhall Astra.
All Formula 1 drivers who attended the show test the track on Suzuki Liana. A similar approach is needed to ensure the same conditions for all participants who came to the TV show in different time. By the way, the record time is assigned to pilot Daniel Riccardo.
The first, the black Stig, was revealed to the public after the second season. It turned out to be racer Perry McCarthy. In the pilot episode of the third season, they decided to “kill” him: the character fell from an aircraft carrier on a modernized Jaguar. The updated white Stig entered the scene in the next episode. They decided to "reveal" his personality to the public in the first episode of the thirteenth season. The fourth leading was the well-known world champion "Formula 1" Michael Schumacher. But already at the end of the episode, Jeremy announced that this was not the real Stig, and then aired a recording where he (Schumacher) badly pilots the Suzuki Liana.
In the second series, Clarkson said that a man recently showed up to them, claiming that he is the Stig. He did not deny it, saying that everything is possible, they certainly do not know. Jeremy also said that he was found 7 days ago in a closed room, tied to a chair with a German piano string.
The character's identity was completely debunked in 2010. The Stig was British Formula 3 driver Ben Collins. After the "secrecy" of the racer was revealed, in the 16th season, another White Stig appeared to the public. Initially, the New Year's episode introduced baby Stig, who was being raised at the "Stig Farm". It has been mentioned that he is able to grow to an adult in just 30 days. The new Stig started working just a month after the end of the Christmas holidays.
Top Gear's main hosts always announce the Stig in a rather unusual and funny way. Each time it starts with "Some say that..." and ends with "For all we know... his name is The Stig." In this case, the greeting option changes in each episode.
Jason Lowe
This is one of the presenters who participated in the first season of the project. His duties included showing conventional cars as opposed to the "supercars" that Jeremy and Richard reviewed. James May replaced him already in the second season of Top Gear.
New Top Gear presenters
Attention! In connection with the dismissal of the "main three", the leaders of the BBC had to look for a replacement. New Top Gear presenters:
Chris Evans
To the team, Chris is called the "Boss of Top Gear". It was about him, as the new main host of the show, that became known first of all. This put an end to all rumors and hopes by the viewer that old composition will return to the program.
Chris Evans is a popular British presenter (radio and television), businessman, producer. He started his career at stations in Manchester, then moved to London and worked for Greater London Radio. Fame came to Chris after the Big Breakfast show.
Sabine Schmitz
She is a racing driver and TV show host. Sabina was born in the German town of Adenau, which is located next to the Nurburgring race track.
Due to both thrifty and masterful behavior on the track, Sabina is called the "Queen of the North Loop". She participated as a racer in various competitions and received many awards. Sabina has already been seen in some editions of the "old" Top Gear.
Matt Leblanc
Full name is Matthew Steven LeBlanc. He is known to many viewers for his role in the television series Friends. American actor was born July 25, 1967. After the cult series, the career continued in another project, Joey. In 2011, the actor returned to the screens thanks to the television series Episodes, where he appeared as a fictionalized version of himself. It was this role that brought him the Golden Globe.
Matt was very pleased with his participation in the program. Notably, he was the first non-British broadcaster to be on the Top Gear team. Taking into account the fact that this year the program turns 40 years old, the event deserves attention.
Eddie Jordan
This man founded the Formula 1 team. During his professional career, he has worked with many famous riders.
She watched the show creep on, getting stale with each season in the face of new and fresh reality shows like Ground Force and Handy-Andy remodeling rooms. Attempts to somehow cheer up the good old car show were not successful. The news of the demise of the program was greeted with sadness by a few: most did not care. And only a tall curly man who left this show a few years ago took this news with lively interest. When Jeremy and I met at the pub at lunchtime, he was already seething with enthusiasm and jumping almost to the ceiling at the thought of how he would revive the old corpse. He's already built the key elements: the new TopGear will be centered around a studio with an audience, and hosts will talk to each other rather than presenting episodes individually.
This studio base made it possible to create a news column so that important cars could be discussed without making a film about each one. Jeremy, like most men in their forties, ate Nick Hornby's Hi-Fi. And if you happen to read this book, you know how beautifully it illustrates the love of the male mind for ratings and top five. We were within a tiny mental effort of the lap times board. The board required a track, which, in turn, made it possible to shoot Italian supercars at full gallop, and not in furious Cotswold turns at a speed of 60 km / h. And since there is a track and a studio, why not invite guests and let them ride a circle? One of us (there were several of us then), I don't remember who, imagined Bryan Ferry in a tuxedo, driving a small Hyundai or something equally anti-Bryanferry. And when we finished laughing at it, the "Star in a budget car" was born.
I did my share along the way, but to be honest, by the time Jeremy left the pub, he had already built the structure of the new TopGear.
And here in April 2015, I sit in a completely empty office and think that that long-standing lunch fully accommodates the tragedy of what the BBC lost by getting rid of Jeremy. They didn't just lose a man who could keep the audience's attention in front of the camera. They lost a journalist who, thanks to the discipline of the printed word, was able to emphasize the important and the unimportant. They lost a genius editor who could look at an existing schema, break it down, and build a new one in a series of flashing insights. Here is an example of such an outburst: I remember during that lunch, Jeremy insisted that new top Gear shouldn't go out of its way to be the first to drive a new car, even if it's a Ferrari Enzo. For me, as a producer, this logic was pure madness, because being first means being exclusive. But he said: “No, you think: to be the first with a new car, you have to fly to a presentation, drive abroad in a left-hand drive car three or four months before it goes on sale, and all this will be an empty phrase. for our buyers. Let's wait. Let's rent a car when it can already be bought from us. When she appears on advertising posters and in showrooms - and then what we do will mean something to the audience.” At the time I still thought he was talking nonsense. But how wrong I was! In the end, we didn't lose a single audience, shooting our film about Enzo two years later than the others.
Now all we needed was a name for the new Top Gear, and after a couple of glasses we found it: “The New Top Gear”. Having settled the case, we went and sold our idea to Jane, who, after a few minutes in the murmuring stream of our consciousness, told us to get out of the office and get down to business. As you read on, you'll realize that without Jane there would be no new Top Gear. I hope I have made this clear enough. She gave us the freedom to quit and start over, she cheered us up when we were scared, and she had a realistic understanding of television. I remember, for example, how I sat with her at one of the first meetings with the leadership of the BBC. When discussing the stories that the new Top Gear will shoot, I mentioned one thing that Jeremy and I did on the old Top Gear, which was about the Siamese survival race, where they race two cars connected by a chain.
Naturally, since this was a BBC manual, someone lashed out at me for saying "Siamese". While I was thinking about how we would say “Today on the show - Double-headed Race to the End”, Jane called everyone to order and said that we did not need to talk about what other people do with cars. “Create own world”, she advised us. And when you think about it, that's exactly what we did - James, Jeremy and Richard lived in their own childish world and just did what they wanted.
Jeremy was already jumping almost to the ceiling in enthusiasm.
However, I declined. Then, in 2002, the first step was to find new hosts. We rented a small studio in Acton and set to work armed with a long list of talents. At the audition, you had to stand next to Renault Avantime, tell something about him, and then discuss the news with Jeremy. And at first we were struck by the wit and the ability to read the news about used cars in a fascinating way by a fat dude with a bang, like Shakin Stevens, named Jason Doe.
Then came James May. Jeremy and I have known James for a long time as a motoring journalist: he was briefly hired by the old Top Gear and quickly fired. It was an important audition for him if he wanted to get back on the show. But James is James. He glanced at Avantime, dismissed it as marketing bullshit, skimmed through the news stories he was supposed to present with Jeremy and tossed them aside. And he began to tell us that gas stations of the old Rolls-Royce cost him such a lot of money that he even had to buy into Sainsbury's offer - a gas discount of 200 pounds on each purchase, and therefore he is now a bachelor with a refrigerator full of rotting lettuce. Then he left, leaving the puzzled BBC bosses staring off into space.
Returning to the tiny office at the BBC, we saw that it was littered to the ceiling with cassettes from applicants. They were sent by dealers, students who had nothing to watch on TV during the day, bearded lovers of classic cars and ales, even lingerie models who blew their savings in tanning beds. But my favorite was an enthusiastic kid who sent an endless tape of him doing a police U-turn in his BMW 3-Series in some industrial area. He didn't say a word, and as far as I remember, he never turned around.
Then, on the 1600 millionth day, producer Kate Shears walked into our cramped office, waving another cassette, and said, guys, this is worth a look. The sassy little guy sent a bad review of the car, which for some reason he was doing in a Batman suit ... But Kate was right - there was something about the boy. So Richard Hammond was invited to watch.
And then he appeared - in a terrible shirt, mumbled some hackneyed nonsense about Avantime and walked through the news pretty well. But we did not see anything similar to what was on the cassette. Then, towards the end of the audition, he began to talk about a painfully unsuccessful career as a radio DJ. And the most painful memory was the announcements on the late night radio of Cumbria, where he read the names of the sheep that were placed in good hands. By the end of this tragic anecdote, Jeremy and everyone else in the room were weeping with laughter. It takes a lot of courage to talk about your failures with such intense competition at the screening. But it was the right move, because self-deprecation - which we did not yet know - became the basis of Top Gear's humor.
We already knew that men's conversations would be an important part of the show.
When the views are over, it's time to choose. Everyone agreed that we needed a funny little loser DJ, but then the arguments began. Fat car salesman Jason was in the lead, Jeremy campaigned for James, but the BBC bosses were unwavering in their desire to see a woman third in the lead. I'm actually a big fan of the BBC, but God, how they test our patience when they "apply marketing logic"! Or, in other words, they are minding their own business. Their argument for a female host was that for a show to be watched by women, it must be hosted by a woman. I've said many times that I love watching What Not To Wear, even though Jimmy Neil isn't there. But no one heard me. The problem was that the older BBC executives knew nothing about motoring. And according to the law of meanness, the less they understood about the subject, the more acute was their desire to intervene.
Be that as it may, we have looked at many beautiful girls, which were more than suitable for the role of the leading car transmission. But Jeremy and I had already begun to realize that an important part of the show would be male talk: not in the style of macho or bachelor party, but the usual male chatter. To understand which you need to travel into that huge black hole, which is called the male consciousness.
We never said that an all-male line-up would give us an edge over a mixed line-up, it was just what we needed. And then, reluctantly, emboldened by warnings about the terrible wrath that Jane Ruth would bring down on our heads, we went to tell her that we did not want a girl. She looked at us for a minute as we prepared for the worst, and then she said, “Great. Do as you know. I like it this way and that way.” So we were introduced to a classic example of the favorite game of the BBC management: “Go understand the boss”.
Having dealt with the sexual issue, we received the go-ahead for the final selection. Or rather, they thought they had. But the BBC's nose poke department isn't done with us yet. Jeremy urged everyone to take James, but we were told that the trio of Jeremy, James and Richard would be too much like "three middle-class graduates private school Yes, even peers. "So what?" we answered. “It's uniform, but we need variety,” we were told. We objected that Trinny and Susannah were the same, and the Two Fat Ladies too, and so on... But in the end, after arguing about what was uniform and what was different, we lost. And the uniform James was kicked in the ass for the diverse Jason Doe, who, as far as I remember, was middle-class of the same age as us.
And our problems with the presenters did not end there. We also needed a super pilot, a pro in racing. Tiff Needell was no good because the BBC wanted the new TopGear to look nothing like the old one. And if we take the driver, he, like Tiff, will have to lead the plots. But so many plots don't fit into one hour, and the racers, apart from rare talents like Tiff and Jason Playto, are not particularly talented at effusions in front of the camera. One evening I was trying to overcome this problem in the office by trying all sorts of combinations on a huge whiteboard until it looked like a shot from The Theory of Everything. And then Jeremy showed up. “You know I can blow the stern into a skid like Tiff did in the old Top Gear,” he said. - But I can't keep the perfect trajectory, kiss the apexes and all that is necessary for the lap time on the board. So we still need a rider.”
“Yes, but then we still need a rider who can talk, and we are back to the beginning,” I replied. After a minute or two, Jeremy flashed, “Wait a minute, why does he have to talk? - he asked. “It could just be a racer, wearing a jumpsuit and a helmet, and he’ll be churning out circles and never open his mouth… We won’t even see his face, and no one will know who he is!” By this point, Clarkson was on fire. "He'll be like a freak in" pulp fiction". We can call him that - Freak!” he shouted.
And so Urod was born. Now it only remained to find a rider for this role. A shy quiet guy who hates to talk. And for some reason we chose Perry McCarthy - the only one whose tongue spit faster than his car. Perry clearly explained to us where we should put the idea of naming him Ugly, so we renamed the character The Stig.
Now the kit was complete, it was time to shoot the pilot. Costume rehearsal where you can see the mistakes and correct them. Full of ambition and in good spirits, we built a scenery reminiscent of the main reactor of the Death Star - just a little smaller - and somehow stuffed them into a rented hangar. Then the illuminators asked: how much light do you need? And we said: "Uh-uh ... let's have more." And they did. We gathered several hundred spectators, locked the doors of the metal hangar, turned on all the lights and began filming our first broadcast. It was in the middle of July.
I don’t remember exactly when, but very soon people began to faint, and after two hours most of the audience lay in a coma. Our guest David Zhinola, a physically strong man, sat sullenly in a puddle of his own sweat, begging heaven to send him quick death. At this time, Jason, more like a bucket of water in his shirt, cheerfully began the 18th take of "Used Car News". The recording was supposed to take several hours, but it seemed to us that we curled up after three days. And having mounted the results, we realized that it turned out to be complete garbage.
While Jane Root silently reviewed the footage, we huddled up to the windowsill of her sixth-floor office. Then she said, “Relax, guys. You won’t scare me with wires and staff with mugs of tea in the frame.” Taking her advice literally, we filmed the co-pilot, where we relaxed so much that we forgot to turn on the cameras when the presenters had already begun to perform. And when the cameras did turn on, there was such anarchy all around that we couldn't tell the hosts from the audience.
I remember Jason demonstrating the quality of the assembly of the car and in a fit of enthusiasm tore off the center panel. But we didn't film it because the camera was covered by a man in a Subaru T-shirt. At that moment, director Brian staggered out of his trailer and told me that in twenty years of working in television, he had not seen such a mess. But, in truth, we simply did not have time for tantrums and tears. Because October 2002 was rapidly approaching, and in a few days we had to go on the air for real ...
TEXT: ANDY WILMAN
