Clarkson, Hammond & May to Announce Their Return New TV Show
Jun 19, 2015 23:50:47 GMT
Mayfayre likes this
Post by RedMoon11 on Jun 19, 2015 23:50:47 GMT
Clarkson, Hammond and May to Announce Their Return and New TV show "Within Weeks"
And on that bombshell… it's good news
By Sunday Times Driving Published 19 June 2015
THEY have been absent from screens since March but now Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are poised to announce not one but two new programmes – news that will delight the million-plus Clarkson fans who signed a petition calling for the BBC to reinstate him.
Clarkson has confirmed he will front a new motoring show with Captain Slow and Hamster, which is likely to be revealed within the next few weeks. At the same time, James May will front a new BBC2 motoring show – Building Cars Live – together with Kate Humble, from Springwatch, and Ant Anstead, a car restorer and presenter on Channel 4’s For the Love of Cars, alongside Philip Glenister.
May’s new show will consist of two 90-minute episodes and be broadcast live from BMW’s Mini factory in Oxford. It will track in real time the transformation from raw materials to finished vehicle. “I can’t wait to build a car. Live.” said May.
Both shows will air before BBC Top Gear returns, sometime after next March, offering car enthusiasts a plethora of motoring shows on which to feast their eyes.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Clarkson has claimed that the BBC asked him to return to present Top Gear, just days before Chris Evans, the DJ and television presenter, was named as his successor.
Clarkson told The Sun newspaper that he could never return to the BBC after an insider there compared him to Jimmy Savile, and added that the culture after “fracasgate” – when Clarkson punched Oisin Tymon, a producer of the BBC Two show – would have meant that the show would be “neutered.”
The BBC denies Clarkson was offered a contract. The news comes as the BBC advertised for replacements for James May and Richard Hammond, inviting applicants from around the world to submit a 30 second video clip online, by July 20.
According to The Sun, Clarkson said: “I had a meeting with a BBC executive last week and they asked if I’d come back to Top Gear. But it was never an option, even with one million people signing the Bring Back Clarkson petition – for which I was extremely humbled. Too much has gone on. After I’d been compared to Jimmy Savile by someone from the BBC and it was splashed all over a Sunday newspaper, how could I go back?”
He continued: “The spotlight would have been on me and the show would end up being neutered. It would have been very difficult to do anything without interference. It would have been impossible to make the show I’d want to make.”
The 55-year old presenter said he believed the BBC knew that would be his position; “…that’s why they gave the job to Chris so soon after I met them.”
Chris Evans will now be involved in appointing other new presenters for Top Gear. Evans said the hosts had to be aged 17 or over, know about cars, and could be "male, female, young or old, it doesn't matter".
In a hint that the format may be revised, Evans added that the jobs on offer may not necessarily be that of presenter. "You could be auditioning to be a driver. You could be auditioning to be a film reporter. Or you could be auditioning to be a co-host."
www.driving.co.uk/news/clarkson-hammond-and-may-to-announce-their-return-and-new-tv-show-within-weeks/
And on that bombshell… it's good news
By Sunday Times Driving Published 19 June 2015
THEY have been absent from screens since March but now Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are poised to announce not one but two new programmes – news that will delight the million-plus Clarkson fans who signed a petition calling for the BBC to reinstate him.
Clarkson has confirmed he will front a new motoring show with Captain Slow and Hamster, which is likely to be revealed within the next few weeks. At the same time, James May will front a new BBC2 motoring show – Building Cars Live – together with Kate Humble, from Springwatch, and Ant Anstead, a car restorer and presenter on Channel 4’s For the Love of Cars, alongside Philip Glenister.
May’s new show will consist of two 90-minute episodes and be broadcast live from BMW’s Mini factory in Oxford. It will track in real time the transformation from raw materials to finished vehicle. “I can’t wait to build a car. Live.” said May.
Both shows will air before BBC Top Gear returns, sometime after next March, offering car enthusiasts a plethora of motoring shows on which to feast their eyes.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Clarkson has claimed that the BBC asked him to return to present Top Gear, just days before Chris Evans, the DJ and television presenter, was named as his successor.
Clarkson told The Sun newspaper that he could never return to the BBC after an insider there compared him to Jimmy Savile, and added that the culture after “fracasgate” – when Clarkson punched Oisin Tymon, a producer of the BBC Two show – would have meant that the show would be “neutered.”
The BBC denies Clarkson was offered a contract. The news comes as the BBC advertised for replacements for James May and Richard Hammond, inviting applicants from around the world to submit a 30 second video clip online, by July 20.
According to The Sun, Clarkson said: “I had a meeting with a BBC executive last week and they asked if I’d come back to Top Gear. But it was never an option, even with one million people signing the Bring Back Clarkson petition – for which I was extremely humbled. Too much has gone on. After I’d been compared to Jimmy Savile by someone from the BBC and it was splashed all over a Sunday newspaper, how could I go back?”
He continued: “The spotlight would have been on me and the show would end up being neutered. It would have been very difficult to do anything without interference. It would have been impossible to make the show I’d want to make.”
The 55-year old presenter said he believed the BBC knew that would be his position; “…that’s why they gave the job to Chris so soon after I met them.”
Chris Evans will now be involved in appointing other new presenters for Top Gear. Evans said the hosts had to be aged 17 or over, know about cars, and could be "male, female, young or old, it doesn't matter".
In a hint that the format may be revised, Evans added that the jobs on offer may not necessarily be that of presenter. "You could be auditioning to be a driver. You could be auditioning to be a film reporter. Or you could be auditioning to be a co-host."
www.driving.co.uk/news/clarkson-hammond-and-may-to-announce-their-return-and-new-tv-show-within-weeks/
