Who could make new, new Top Gear work?

"TheContradiktion" (thecontradiktion) 04/21/2015 at 12:55 • Filed to: Top Gear, Chris Harris

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By now hopefully everyone has accepted the unsurprising reality that the Top Gear trio are no longer at the helm of the UK Top Gear. To be honest, I never understood how so many people hadn’t seemed to see the writing on the wall. I’ve been expecting at least Clarkson and possibly May and Hammond to step down since Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman sold their shares of the Top Gear property to the BBC in 2012. From my experience one doesn’t hand over that sort of control unless one has more or less finished all they’d like to do with a particular property.

So now that what’s done is done, I’m interested to hear other people’s thoughts on a question that I’ve been picking at for some time now: who do you think would be a compelling set of hosts for the next generation of Top Gear? The rumors mill was going full steam, early on predicting that Clarkson’s position would be filled by Chris Evan of BBC Radio 2, and more recently Sue Perkins. Now, I must confess, I was very relieved to hear that Chris Evan had no interest in the show. I don’t think he’s the man for the job. Sue Perkins could have been an interesting match, but she’s rather pointedly said she had no interest in such a project. I probably wouldn’t want to be involved if a bunch of nutters threatened me with death over a rumor I had no control of either. So that leaves the rest of the world!

I think the most obvious pick is Chris Harris. His wit, hoonery, and experience in auto journalism make him a pretty good fit. I’m not sure Ferrari would love to have his baggage thrown onto the Top Gear bus, but something tells me that even Maranello wouldn’t say no to Top Gear.

The only other name that comes to mind with any sort of immediacy is Idris Elba. I wasn’t deeply impressed with the car show he did a while ago, but I’m willing to chalk it up to bad writing.

So, who do you think would give the new, new Top Gear a chance?

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 13:02

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Supposedly Philip Glenister is being considered. That would be awesome. Apart from him, Sabine Schmitz and Chris Harris are pretty obviously perfect for a Top Gear Version 3.

Nibbles > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 13:09

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Personally, I stopped watching Top Gear for the journalistic content a long time ago. It became Jezza, Captain Slow and the Hamster bitch at each other and I cannot think of any other presenters that could pull off the same assholish synergy that those three did

Top Gear may return but it will not be the same show. That’s not to say I wouldn’t watch it; I’d definitely give it a fair chance. But I’ll know, in the back of my mind, it’s not the fat-old-Brits-soap-opera I’m used to

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 13:14

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The resurrected bodies of these guys, and no one else.

Cherry_man1 > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 13:18

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Harris, Rowan Atkinson, and some other person who I can’t think of.

tromoly > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 13:25

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To be honest, in my opinion Top Gear UK shouldn’t be brought back. Watching Season 21 last week and starting Season 22 this week the show just seems a bit stale, it could be replaced by a completely different car show and things probably would be better.

WhyWagonIfNotWagonFast > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 13:27

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Chris Harris, Rowan Atkinson, Sabine Schmitz

djmt1 > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 14:06

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Suzi Perry is my first choice. She has a history of Motorsport coverage with Moto GP and F1 and she has demonstrated that she is brilliant at presenting on The Gadget Show.

Also it is kind of messed up that this is the closest non sexy pic of her I could find on Google. That said, the page this pic is from is titled “Suzi Perry looks like a Sexy secretary”.

ceanderson920 > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 14:17

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I would give it a try!

TheContradiktion > Nibbles 04/21/2015 at 15:19

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I’m not sure I entirely agree. I feel as if there were two Top Gears buried within each episode. The first show was all the challenges, the news, and you’ve pegged it exactly; it was a show where a couple of friends hung out and were massive dicks to eachother, and it was just as funny as watching your friends hang out, but better because they were driving Maseratis.

The other part of the show was all the individual comparisons, and apart from the subjectivity of Clarkson yelling “POWER!” or May whining about the Nurburgring, those segments ultimately were solid automotive journalism.

I think that any possible replacements for Clarkson, May, and Hammond need to be of a personality that they get along with one another, but ultimately you can’t CREATE friends unless you call up the /CARS group and say “Hey, which of your crew get along the most famously with Chris Harris? Great, send them over, there’s a stack of hundreds in your mailbox. Thanks.”

Mmm... come to think of it, the BBC executives should just throw a stack of money to hire whatever 2 guys Chris Harris gets along the most famously with.

Nibbles > TheContradiktion 04/21/2015 at 15:22

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Yeah, everyone felt differently about the show, and everyone’s opinion is likely valid. I was just saying that I watched less and less for the journalism, more and more for the asshattery

It wouldn’t be hard to recreate the journalistic aspects of Top Gear and be just as good - if not better - than its predecessor. Attempting to recreate the relationships between the presenters is something that will derail the next show and should not be attempted (in my opinion)

TheContradiktion > Nibbles 04/21/2015 at 15:27

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I agree with you honestly. As I mentioned, you can’t try to CREATE friendships in a show. You can try to cast compatible people and hope for the best, but I think the best bet they have is find three capable and interesting people, focus on the cars for a while, and see what happens. If you get people that click that’s great, if not, you have some compelling professionals talking about cars in the failing.