Articles about TG

[RedMoon11]

WORLD EXCLUSIVE: HYPERCAR ‘HOLY TRINITY’ SET FOR TOP GEAR TRACK BATTLE

It's on: P1 vs 918 Spyder vs LaFerrari

By Nick Rufford     Published 28 February 2015



THE SCENE is set for what is being billed as the greatest showdown in supercar history. This spring, the three most advanced cars on the planet are due to go head-to-head on the track for the first time.

McLaren’s 217mph P1 and the 211mph Porsche 918 Spyder will be brought together with the Ferrari LaFerrari (top speed unknown, but more than 217mph) in a contest organised by Top Gear.

Each will be in the hands of the Stig, Top Gear’s mysterious, unnamed racing driver, who will take their combined 2728bhp, hi-tech hybrid systems and carbon-fibre chassis to the limit as he sets a lap time for all three.

After all the hype about these hypercars, this could prove the ultimate test of speed, grip and streamlining. The results matter far more to each firm than having the best top speed or fastest acceleration — whatever they might say.

Andy Wilman, executive producer of Top Gear, said that Ferrari and McLaren were the most fiercely competitive, and were still discussing exactly where and how their cars would be tested. “That’s your Foreman and Ali,” he said. Porsche, whose 918 is the cheapest of the three at a mere £625,000, may assume that its car’s four-wheel-drive system will give it an advantage on any track.

The three cars — dubbed the holy trinity — are likely to race at the site of previous closely fought motorsport battles in mainland Europe: Monza in Italy or Imola in the republic of San Marino. The Paul Ricard circuit in France is another possibility. Dry weather is crucial for the test.

“We’re aiming for a big, iconic circuit where the Stig can get a decent speed up on the straights,” said Wilman. The showdown will not be shown in the current Top Gear series, which is due to finish at the end of this month, so it is likely to be screened as a one-off episode later this year.

Until now, the hypercars had only been tested together on public highways as opposed to a racetrack, and at road-legal speeds. Top Gear highlighted the issue in last Sunday’s episode after James May had reviewed the £1m LaFerrari. “Who here would like to see which of these cars is the fastest round our track?” Jeremy Clarkson asked the audience, to resounding cheers. “So would we.”

He said that Porsche was happy to run the 918 against its rivals but that McLaren had objected to the test being held at Top Gear’s Dunsfold test track.

Clarkson went on to say that Ferrari had banned its customers from allowing its cars to be tested, on pain of being blacklisted from buying any future limited-edition Ferrari.

After soaking in the groans of disappointment from the studio audience, McLaren told The Sunday Times last week that it would now be happy for the £866,000 P1 to be tested at Dunsfold or any other track.

Ferrari has also reached an agreement with the BBC. “I replied to Top Gear, ‘We’re not [normally] interested in this sort of thing [head-to head challenges] but if you tell me when, where, I’ll give you a car — if I have a car,’” said Stefano Lai, communication director at Ferrari. “I don’t think anybody will buy or not buy a car if you do a lap one-tenth of a second less or more [than a rival]. A car is more than that.”

The contest is a matter of pride for the manufacturers, rather than sales. All three limited-edition cars are already sold out.

www.driving.co.uk/news/world-exclusive-hypercar-holy-trinity-set-for-top-gear-track-battle/

[dit]

Mar 5, 2015 13:30:48 GMT RedMoon11 said:

Mar 3, 2015 11:50:27 GMT dit said:

RedMoon11, thank you so much for finding the time to track down all the articles you find and put them here on the JMB. It's greatly appreciated!

You're welcome. I enjoy the hunt almost as much as reading the articles and watching the shows

I used to really enjoy that too, used to call it 'Sherlocking'. I somehow don't seem to have anywhere near enough time to do it justice now, too much going on. I try to keep up to date with everything that's happening, though!

[RedMoon11]

Top Gear Cleared Over Pike's Peak Pun

17 March 2015 Last updated at 12:40


The ruling was made before Jeremy Clarkson's suspension from Top Gear last week

The BBC Trust has overturned a complaint about the use of term "pikey" in an episode of Top Gear.

Broadcast last February, the show saw the team racing 1980s hatchback cars against their modern equivalents.

Presenter Jeremy Clarkson mocked Richard Hammond for choosing a Vauxhall Nova, and erected a placard at the start line that read "Pikey's Peak".

Travellers' groups complained the term was racist, but the BBC said that, in this instance, it merely meant "cheap".

The decision came from the Editorial Standards Committee, part of the corporation's governing body, the BBC Trust.

One of the complainants, the Traveller Movement, said it was "horrified" the BBC had given the term a "green light".

Play on words

The BBC's committee acknowledged that "pikey" derived from the word "turnpike" and was therefore related to travellers.

However, it added, the term had "evolved into common parlance among a number of people to mean "chavvy" or "cheap".

"Depending on the context, viewers would not necessarily associate it with the Gypsy and traveller communities."

The committee noted that the placard was a deliberate pun on the US race course Pike's Peak, which had been referenced earlier in the show's script.

"On this occasion, the use of the word 'pikey' as a play on words would not have been seen as a careless or purposeless stereotype about travellers and Gypsies, but in keeping with the style of humour exhibited by the presenters towards Richard Hammond's perceived 'cheap' style," it said in its ruling.

In response, the Traveller Movement said the committee's explanation was "breathtaking in its mendacity".

"The claim that [the word] has evolved a new meaning and that most people do not realise it has any reference at all with Gypsies and travellers is absolute rubbish," said a representative.

"It is an absurd decision that flies in the face of the evidence we presented during the course of the 13-month-long complaint process.

"Gypsy and traveller children are now open to even more abuse in the playground.

"Abuse that has the official sanction of the BBC Trust."

The BBC Trust's verdict came in December, before Clarkson was suspended for an alleged "fracas" with a producer. However, the findings have only just been made public.

As a result of the complaint, the BBC Trust has advised programme-makers to use the word only with "extreme care and sensitivity".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31922773


www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/jeremy-clarkson-ruling-travellers-group-objects-as-bbc-trust-says-top-gear-presenters-use-of-pikey-was-not-racist-10112115.html

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11477263/Jeremy-Clarkson-cleared-of-racism-over-pikey-sign.html

[dit]

I could be completely wrong, but I saw the first version of this story on the BBC news website as it come up and I'm pretty sure it didn't include the actual word in contention. I remember thinking that it must be *that word* otherwise the article couldn't make sense, but found it difficult to believe that the BBC would be so scared of using it, even though the article was about it, that they chose not to actually print it. When I went to look again later the first section of the article appeared to have been rewritten. I could be imagining it, of course.

[RedMoon11]

Mar 17, 2015 21:46:43 GMT dit said:

I could be completely wrong, but I saw the first version of this story on the BBC news website as it come up and I'm pretty sure it didn't include the actual word in contention. I remember thinking that it must be *that word* otherwise the article couldn't make sense, but found it difficult to believe that the BBC would be so scared of using it, even though the article was about it, that they chose not to actually print it. When I went to look again later the first section of the article appeared to have been rewritten. I could be imagining it, of course.

The article does say it was updated so it is quite possible "pikey" was inserted in the updated version of the article.

[RedMoon11]

Pictures of Top Gear stars in boats reveals scenes that fans may now never see on the screen

Published: 05:44 EST, 27 March 2015 | Updated: 12:25 EST, 27 March 2015

Footage that Top Gear fans may never see on the BBC emerged today because Jeremy Clarkson was thrown off the show.

The BBC presenter was sacked by the channel on Wednesday after an internal investigation found he punched a producer in the face during filming for series 22.

In December last year, Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May brought an unusual brand of their usual motor mayhem to a sleepy Kent village.

Turning their backs on cars and opting for boats and sail boards instead, the trio descended on Chipstead Lake, Sevenoaks, to film.


On the water: Previously unseen pictures show the Top Gear team, James May and Richard Hammond on the water and Jeremy Clarkson being filmed in Kent in December


Chat: Mr Clarkson appears to have a wet right food while talking to a member of the Top Gear team whole James May enjoys a cigarette while Richard Hammond prepares to go back in the water

The usually tranquil waters of the one-time gravel pit - popular with dinghy sailors, birdwatchers and walkers - were rocked by an army of camera crews, directors and producers.

Hammond even did away with his motor to get to Chipstead, choosing to arrive at the recreation ground in a helicopter.

Locals were sworn to secrecy but it would seem the village's five minutes of fame could now be a victim of Clarkson's fracas.

Photographer Lewis Durham said that, with the exception of an attempt to tow a boat with a small 4x4, the team ditched their motors and spent most of the day on the water.

He said: "James May had a spell in a dinghy and capsized. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a stunt, I think he went over for real.


Sailing trip: Mr May, who appears likely to be leaving the BBC, looked like he had sailed before


Overboard: But in this photograph it appears he lost control of his dinghy, which capsized

'He wasn't in any danger - there were safety boats and RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) with production crews buzzing around all the time.

'I'm pretty sure they were filming a challenge because I saw a man in a white coat hand Clarkson a gold envelope.

'I've been covering sailing events on this lake for years - from dragon boat racing to the sailing club's annual children's summer camp - but I've never see anything like this."

Top Gear is said to be the most widely-watched factual TV programme in the world, with an estimated 350 million viewers in 170 different countries tuning in each week.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3014431/Top-Gear-producer-punched-Jeremy-Clarkson-steak-fracas-tells-police-does-NOT-want-press-charges.html

[RedMoon11]

Top Gear presenters film at Chipstead Lake in Kent

17:47 22 December 2014

Clarkson, May and Hammond descend on the county

BBC show Top Gear was filmed in Kent this morning.

Presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were filming the motoring programme at Chipstead Lake near Sevenoaks.

Filming began early in the morning, with the helicopter landing on the recreation ground in Chevening Road and attempts made to keep members of the public away from the sailing club.

www.kentnews.co.uk/news/top_gear_presenters_film_at_chipstead_lake_in_kent_1_3895533

---

Chipstead's five minutes of fame could go down with Jeremy Clarkson

By Sevenoaks Chronicle | Posted: March 26, 2015



HIT TV motoring show Top Gear swooped on Chipstead Lake last year, but the village's five minutes of fame could be a victim of Jeremy Clarkson's fracas.

The usually tranquil waters of the one-time gravel pit – popular with dinghy sailors, birdwatchers and walkers – was rocked by an army of sound and camera crews, directors, producers and behind the scenes staff, and, of course, three popular presenters, when Top Gear rolled in last December.

Now embroiled in controversy, the trio of presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May brought an unusual brand of their usual motor mayhem to the village, by turning their backs on cars and opting for boats and sail boards instead.

Now the show's future is unknown after the BBC ditched Mr Clarkson and the screening of the series hangs in the balance.

During filming in the village the approach road to Chipstead Sailing Club and the Leonard Cheshire Disability Home subsequently became clogged with BBC cars, and locals were sworn to secrecy.

A member of staff at the home said: "There were a lot of vehicles outside and they tried to stop me coming down, but I told them I had to get to work.

"The three celebrities were there, but they told us not to say very much."

The show, and Chipstead, was set to be beamed on to the television screens of millions across the world.

Chronicle photographer Lewis Durham said that, with the exception of an attempt to tow a boat with a small 4x4, the team ditched their motors and spent most of the day on the water.

Capsized

"James May had a spell in a dinghy and capsized," he said. "I'm pretty sure it wasn't a stunt, I think he went over for real.

"He wasn't in any danger – there were safety boats and RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) with production crews buzzing around all the time."

Lewis also captured shots of May and Hammond struggling with a windsurfing or sail board.

"I'm pretty sure they were filming a challenge," he said, "because I saw a man in a white coat hand Clarkson a gold envelope.

"I've been covering sailing events on this lake for years – from dragon boat racing to the sailing club's annual children's summer camp – but I've never see anything like this."

Top Gear is said to be the most widely-watched factual TV programme in the world, with an estimated 350million viewers in 170 different countries tuning in each week.


Read more: www.sevenoakschronicle.co.uk/Chipstead-s-minutes-fame-Jeremy-Clarkson/story-26238119-detail/story.html#ixzz3VhAUDmeg
Follow us: @7oakschronicle on Twitter | sevenoakschronicle on Facebook

[RedMoon11]

The Telegraph has a 15 photo gallery to click through

A history of Top Gear presenters


7 .It wasn’t until October 1988 that a fresh-faced (and big-haired) Jeremy Clarkson made his first appearance on Top Gear. Over the next few years he would help to change the style from worthy-but-dull to something more entertaining.
Picture: BBC/Television Stills


10. Most fans of Top Gear know that it was Andy Wilman (front), the show’s executive producer until recently, that teamed up with Clarkson to devise the format we know today. But what’s less well known is that Wilman presented Top Gear himself during the Nineties.
Picture: Splash News

 www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/11583450/A-history-of-Top-Gear-presenters.html

[RedMoon11]

Top Gear Investigated by Ofcom Over Pike's Peak Pun

5 May 2015    From the section Entertainment & Arts


Hammond, Clarkson and May (l to r) were seen racing hatchbacks in the 2014 edition

BBC Two's Top Gear is being investigated by watchdog Ofcom over the use of the word "pikey" in an episode broadcast in February last year.

The BBC Trust rejected the Traveller Movement's original complaint in March, but the group have brought it to Ofcom.

It was sparked by a placard featuring the words "Pikey's Peak" which host Jeremy Clarkson put up after a race between 1980s hatchbacks.

Clarkson has since been axed from the show, after a "fracas" with a producer.

During the episode, broadcast on 2 February 2014, Clarkson had been ridiculing co-presenter Richard Hammond's choice of a Vauxhall Nova when the term was used.

"Ofcom is investigating a complaint from the Travellers' Movement that it was offensive to include a placard with Pikey's Peak written on it in this BBC show," said a spokesperson from the broadcasting regulator.

'Common parlance'

Top Gear was cleared by the Editorial Standards Committee of the BBC Trust over the comment earlier this year.

It acknowledged the word "pikey" derived from the word "turnpike" and was therefore related to travellers, but said there was no "intended racist reference".

The committee said the word had "evolved into common parlance among a number of people to mean 'chavvy' or 'cheap'".

This, it said, meant many Top Gear viewers "would not necessarily associate it with the Gypsy and Traveller communities".

It also noted that the placard was a deliberate pun on the US race course Pike's Peak, which had been referenced earlier in the show's script.

Ofcom said its investigation, launched on 22 April, was looking into whether the potential for offence caused by the use of the word "pikey" was justified by the context.

'Racist abuse'

A statement from the Traveller Movement welcomed the decision and said it hoped Ofcom's investigation was "thorough".

"When the BBC Trust ruled that the Top Gear use of the word 'pikey' had nothing to do with gypsies and travellers and meant cheap and dodgy instead, it was clearly the trust that was being a bit cheap and dodgy," it said.

"We believe in freedom of speech, but with that freedom there must be responsibility.

"The BBC Trust abdicated that responsibility when they legitimised the use of a racist word on one of their most popular and money-spinning programmes."

It said the topic was one that needed attention, adding: "We can bang on about semantics and meanings, but at the end of the day too many gypsies and travellers hear that word in the form of racist abuse.

"How can you work for understanding and integration when racist abuse is seen as funny by a national public broadcaster paid for by the public?"

Top Gear producers are currently looking for a new look presenting team for the show.

Last month Clarkson's co-presenters James May and Hammond ruled themselves out of returning for the next series without him.
 

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-32590963 

[RedMoon11]

Top Gear number plate row: Prosecutors renew attempt to try Jeremy Clarkson

Argentine Falklands War veterans say they have been promised an appeal against the decision not to prosecute sacked Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson


Jeremy Clarkson in Chile before the attack on the Top Gear team. Right, the convoy including the Porsche with the 'Falklands war’ number plate Photo: Autoblog Argentina

By Agency
12:29PM BST 19 May 2015

Prosecutors in Argentina are appealing a judge's refusal to try Jeremy Clarkson and his former Top Gear co-hosts over their number-plate swap during their controversial South American jaunt.

Argentine Falklands War veterans confirmed on Monday night they had been told in a private meeting the decision would be contested with a higher court.

Maria Cristina Barrionuevo last month ruled Clarkson, who was sacked by the BBC in March, deliberately entered Argentina with a Falklands-referenced number plate.

She rubbished claims by the BBC and the presenter - fired in March after an unprovoked attack on a producer - that the use of the plate H982 FKL on Clarkson's infamous Porsche was an "unfortunate coincidence."

But she rejected demands to formally investigate the Top Gear team for changing the plate before angry locals forced them out of the country, concluding programme chiefs had acted to avert more conflict.

Osvaldo Hillard, spokesman for the Malvinas Veterans Centre in the southern city of Ushuaia, confirmed local prosecutor Daniel Curtale had promised them an appeal which in a worst-case scenario for Clarkson could lead to him being sentenced to three years in jail.

He said: "We do not share Judge Barrionuevo's interpretation of events in the slightest.

"We believe the Top Gear people changed the number plates in the full knowledge that what they were doing was illegal."


One of the Top Gear team's cars lies abandoned by the roadside in Argentina after it was attacked by protesters

Claiming he was "surprised" the judge ruled without calling on war veterans to testify, he added: "They called other people in and not us who were the ones who saw the Porsche had another number plate on the last day of filming and reported it to the police.

"I'm very respectful of the justice system, but I think they should have acted differently."

The appeal will be heard by judges in the nearby city of Rio Grande, where Clarkson's Porsche is thought to be in storage.

Clarkson and his friends are expected to be asked to return to southern Argentina for a court grilling.

The vehicle at the centre of the storm had the number plate HI VAE on it when Top Gear workers abandoned it by the side of the road last October before fleeing across the border to Chile to escape stone-throwing locals.

They had been filming for a Christmas special which went ahead despite the diplomatic furore that ensued.

Under Argentine law, illegal number plate changes can entail a conviction for falsification and a prison sentence of up to three years.

Mr Curtale asked judge Barrionuevo to open a criminal investigation for alleged falsification last year after the Top Gear escape from Argentina.

The judge said in her recent ruling, referring to the Falklands as the Malvinas: "It should be understood that it is not up to me to investigate or evaluate the decision - arrogant and disrespectful to say the least - by the Top Gear production team to enter the country with one or more Malvinas-referenced numberplates.

"Nor is it my job to gauge the reaction - anticipated - of citizens to such an offence.

"My responsibility is to analyse whether a crime has been committed under Argentinian law in relation to the removal from the Porsche of the original numberplate H982 FKL and its replacement by another."

Concluding Top Gear chiefs had not acted in "bad faith" in changing the plates and their hand was forced by "massive government and popular pressure", she added: "It led them to remove the original number plate and replace it with another which in principle wouldn't have negative connotations with the aim of ending the main focus of conflict and avoiding violent reactions by locals which indeed ended up taking place.

"The change was not done in a surreptitious way, but with the knowledge and approval of the presenters who participated in meetings with the programme producers."

The BBC has consistently denied suggestions the Porsche was bought for its number plate, or the number plate was changed after it was purchased.

Clarkson, 55, and his former Top Gear co-hosts are rumoured to be close to signing up to online service Netflix to create a new version of the motoring series.

They are said to be planning to call it House of Cars - a play on the successful House of Cards - because the Top Gear name belongs to the BBC.


www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11615116/Top-Gear-number-plate-row-Prosecutors-renew-attempt-to-try-Jeremy-Clarkson.html

[RedMoon11]

Final Top Gear broadcast to give Clarkson, Hammond and May closure

The show’s former executive producer says he will join the team after their final show has aired to work out a next move, with ITV, Amazon and Netflix waiting in the wings


Hammond, Clarkson and May are currently on tour in South Africa. Photograph: Van Heerden/REX Shutterstock

John Plunkett
 Friday 26 June 2015 08.48 EDT

The broadcast of the final episode of Top Gear on BBC2 this Sunday will provide closure for Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May – allowing the trio to head to a secret destination next week to hammer out the details of their new motoring programme, the show’s former executive producer has said.

“We are going to go somewhere where nobody can find us,” said Andy Wilman, Clarkson’s longtime friend and collaborator. “We will get our heads down and work out the nuts and bolts of what the new show will do and what it will look like.”

Where this reincarnation of Top Gear will find a home is still unclear, although a deal is expected within weeks. ITV and rival US on-demand services Netflix, home to Kevin Spacey’s House of Cards, and Amazon remain the frontrunners to sign Clarkson and his former colleagues.

“The truth of the matter is, we are still talking to different people,” said Wilman. “All we know is that we want to stay together and carry on making a car show. There is a will for it – the public want it, broadcasters want it – so the stars are aligning in the right way. Once this show’s gone out and we’ve got closure, we’ll crack on.”

Wilman, a friend of Clarkson since their days together at Repton school, said the negotiations were like a real-life Top Gear film. “Two days in and Jeremy is all bombastic and [thinks] he’s a brilliant businessman and he knows fvck all,” said Wilman. “I don’t think Jeremy has made a conference call yet at the right time. James [May] is looking at the smaller points … It’s like a Top Gear film. It’s all very funny.”

One thing Clarkson and pals will not be able to take with them is the Top Gear name, after it was bought back by the BBC three years ago in a deal that gave the presenter – and Wilman – a multimillion-pound windfall.


New host Chris Evans with outgoing presenter Jeremy Clarkson. Photograph: Beretta/Sims/REX Shutterstock

“I’m not worried about that,” said Wilman, who created the show’s latest incarnation with Clarkson in 2002. “It went global because of Richard, James and Jeremy, and grew at a time when channel loyalty, schedules, all those pillars of traditional TV watching, have fallen away ... We are looking for a global platform.”

Sunday’s final 75-minute Top Gear outing was put together from films made before Clarkson’s attack on a producer that subsequently cost him his job. He returned to record a new voiceover for Sunday’s final show – unpaid and under his old contract – and Hammond and May filmed new links but without a studio audience, a process Wilman described as “very sad, absolutely awful to make”.

Such has been the spotlight on the show that its farewell episode may well be its most watched ever, beating the record 8.4 million who saw Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton’s turn as the “star in a reasonably priced car” in 2007.

Hamilton eclipsed the 8.1 million viewers who tuned in to see Richard Hammond’s return earlier that year after his near-fatal high-speed crash. It was the moment the motoring show, which until then had been steadily building its audience, went stratospheric.

The motoring show has rarely been out of the headlines since Clarkson’s “fracas” with a member of the production team in March. The BBC decided not to renew Clarkson’s contract later that month after an internal report found he was responsible for an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack” on Oisin Tymon.

It was the latest in a string of controversies around the show and the presenter, from Clarkson’s description of Gordon Brown as a “one-eyed Scottish idiot” at a press conference in 2009 to last year’s unbroadcast footage in which he appeared to mumble the n-word.

Another incident, a 2011 episode in which the presenters branded Mexicans “lazy”, “feckless” and “flatulent”, prompted a complaint from the Mexican embassy and an apology from the BBC.


The three former Top Gear presenters are expected to create a new show with a rival broadcaster. Photograph: Ellis O'Brien/BBC/PA

“We were abysmal,” said Wilman. “It was charmless, badly delivered and sh*t. If you are making a show with a mental age of nine, you are going to act like a nine-year-old, and at some point you are going to lose focus.”

Successfully reinventing the show will be crucial for the BBC – along with 6 million expectant fans on BBC2, Top Gear has a record 350 million viewers around the world.

The corporation has entrusted its crown jewel – earning an estimated £50m a year for its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide – to the Radio 2 breakfast DJ, Chris Evans, who has been given the role of both presenter and executive producer for its return next year.

But Evans’s appointment as Clarkson’s successor was muddied a few days later when Clarkson claimed a senior BBC executive had approached him about a possible return to the show. Some corporation executives are understood to have wanted Clarkson back, following a suitable period away, but how it would have worked remains unclear.

Wilman, who quit the BBC a month after Clarkson’s departure, said: “I love those three letters with all my heart but I’m looking forward to a new home because sometimes it’s hard to laugh at W1A [the BBC’s satire about itself] when you are living in it.

“At the end, I had a guy sitting over my shoulder watching me edit because they didn’t trust me. We were seen as such meddlesome fools.”

Evans has indicated that the new Top Gear will have more audience participation, including open auditions for the co-presenter role and the chance for viewers to drive around the Top Gear track, never a feature under Clarkson.

“I have always been very old-fashioned, I never had any interest whatsoever in interactive,” said Wilman. “Chris will do a good job of his type of show. It will be a healthy rivalry, there will be room for both of us.”

But before that, there is Sunday’s final episode of the old Top Gear to come. Not that Wilman will be watching. He will be at an AC/DC concert.

“I’m not sure I would be watching anyway because it’s quite sad for me,” he said. “I didn’t want it to end this way. The films are good but they were never designed to carry this burden of being the last thing you’ll ever see from us on Top Gear.

“What’s quite poignant for me is they are not the most ambitious films we have ever done but by accident they happen to be very strong on camaraderie.

“Even if I was in, I would probably be watching Countryfile,” he added. “I like Countryfile.”

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/jun/26/last-top-gear-broadcast--clarkson-hammond-may-closure?CMP=share_btn_tw

[RedMoon11]

Top Gear's Richard Hammond says the end of the show 'broke my heart'

June 26, 2015
Sarah Thomas  The Sydney Morning Herald


Winning team: Top Gear presenters Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May.

Top Gear host Richard Hammond has admitted the end of the long-running car show "broke my heart" but has pledged that it's not over yet for the hugely popular trio of presenters.

"We've had a hell of year, but we're alive. We can only do one thing so we have to find a way of doing it," he told Fairfax Media.


Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May mess around on set. Photo: Ellis O'Brien

After 22 seasons, the final episode of Top Gear featuring its long-running line-up of Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May will air in Britain on Sunday and Australia on Monday.

"I hope people will watch it and think 'Wow, that was amazing'," Hammond said of the show. "Because it broke my heart, I don't think I'll be able to watch it."

The last show appears after a tumultuous few months following Clarkson's sacking by the BBC after 13 years fronting the show due to a "fracas" with a producer in March, with Hammond and May also departing in a mark of solidarity with their ousted colleague.


Richard Hammond is heartbroken by the series finale of Top Gear.

TV and radio presenter Chris Evans has since signed a three-year deal to replace Clarkson. The new co-hosts are yet to be confirmed.

The final show to feature the original trio will include segments filmed prior to Clarkson's exit but will be linked in the studio by just Hammond and May.

"The studio links were just to get in between the bits of the films that go up to make the show. We felt that we owed it to the audience, we made it for them and they own it, so it had to go out," Hammond said.

Amid rumours that the trio are shortly to announce a new deal for a show with Netflix, Hammond said he couldn't comment on negotiations but added: "We're not dead, we're not over. And by the grace the god, and more importantly for our audience, we'll find a way of carrying on. We've had a great time and we're not ready to stop yet. We'll stop when the audience tells us to stop."


Top Gear's Richard Hammond recovered from life-threatening head injuries.

Top Gear, which has been airing with Clarkson at the helm since 2002, has consistently rated as one of the world's biggest factual programs, with an audience of 350 million worldwide. It struck a chord with viewers beyond motoring enthusiasts due to the irreverent wit, tomfoolery and often shambolic presenting of its three hosts.

"Every series would come round and we would say, 'well what are we going to do this year, let's just make the best car show we can.' That's all we ever did.

"There was no science, there was no cynicism in the creation of it year in, year out, we just did the best we could."

He said they knew the show had to end someday and that they would "soldier on".

"It's a shame but we're not dead, there's more life in us yet," he said.

The three presenters will be in Australia next month for an arena tour, postponed from April and now rebranded without the Top Gear tag as Clarkson, Hammond and May Live.

Hammond said the live show will be themed around The Cr-Ashes, an Australia v England battle featuring the three Brits and Australian hosts Shane Jacobson, Steve Pizzati and Riana Crehan. The two teams will be "locked in horn to horn" in a series of battles such as Sidecar Polo, Car Rugby and V8 Cricket, Hammond says.

"There will be genuine competition there, make no bones about it but we're going to try bloody hard because we reckon that the Aussies will understand that, so if we do win, they'll take it on the chin."


Top Gear has been a huge success for more than a decade.

Top Gear airs on BBC Knowledge on Monday.

Clarkson, Hammond & May Live is at Perth Arena, July 18-19, and Allphones Arena in Sydney, July 25-26, see clarksonhammondandmaylive.com.au.


 www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/top-gears-richard-hammond-says-the-end-of-the-show-broke-my-heart-20150626-ghy62a.html

 

 

[RedMoon11]

Ofcom clears Top Gear over 'pikey' pun

27 July 2015


The episode was broadcast in February 2014

Ofcom has backed a BBC Trust decision not to censure the BBC over using the word "pikey" in an edition of Top Gear.

The Traveller Movement complained after former host Jeremy Clarkson was seen holding a placard with "Pikey's Peak" while shooting in Worcestershire.

In March, the BBC Trust said it had been used to mean "cheap", rather than as a term of racial offence.

Ofcom said there was "sufficient context in the way the word was used to minimise offence".

The broadcasting regulator said it recognised that "some in the audience would perceive the word pikey as a derogatory term for gypsies and travellers".

It added: "We have advised broadcasters this doesn't mean the use of the word is acceptable in any programme in any context and that it is capable of causing significant offence in certain contexts."

The BBC also admitted the word could be "a derogatory term" but cited online encyclopaedia Wikipedia as proof it also referred to someone who "lives on the cheap".

In its complaint to Ofcom, the Traveller Movement said: "Had a more neutral word like "cheapskate" been used, it would not have had such a 'transgressive punch' ie provocative impact".

However, the BBC had argued "the issue in determining whether it is offensive in any particular case is the intention behind its use, and the context in which it is used".

In the scene, Clarkson held up the sign as co-presenter Richard Hammond prepared to test the performance of a used hatchback car by racing up Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in Worcestershire, the site of a particularly steep racing climb.

Presenter Jeremy Clarkson mocked Richard Hammond for choosing a Vauxhall Nova, and erected a placard at the start line that read "Pikey's Peak", a play on words in reference to Pikes Peak, a famous hill climb in Colorado.

'Independent decision'

In its considerations, Ofcom had noted Top Gear was "widely known for its irreverent style and sometimes outspoken humour" and added the reference to the use of the term "pikey" was part of a "long running gag" on Top Gear and that "Richard Hammond had been linked to it on previous occasions".

It concluded that "it is likely that the audience would not generally have considered that there was a direct and pejorative association between the reference to the word 'pikey' in the sign 'Pikey's Peak' and a discriminatory usage referring to Gypsies and Travellers in a way which would cause widespread offence."

Reacting to the ruling, the Traveller Movement told the Press Association: "We are appalled that Ofcom have followed the BBC Trust's line and have green-lit the use of 'pikey' on Top Gear.

"Their decision that this particular use has no reference to Gypsies and Travellers is bankrupt."

A spokesman said they would meet with lawyers to "consider our options".

An Ofcom spokesman rejected any inference that the decision had been based on the BBC Trust's findings.

He said: "As the UK's broadcast regulator, our team investigated this programme completely afresh and reached an independent decision."


www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33677833

[joandie]

Hello 

Sorry for the off topic, but can anyone tell me what he's doing since TOP GEAR has ended ? I think I've read a few snippets about the fact they were filming a car show, are they ?

[RedMoon11]

Nov 19, 2015 14:40:30 GMT joandie said:

Hello 

Sorry for the off topic, but can anyone tell me what he's doing since TOP GEAR has ended ? I think I've read a few snippets about the fact they were filming a car show, are they ?

James had a two part show on in October called Building Cars Live on BBC Two www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p033zflq
You can watch it on iPlayer or YouTube
Read more jamesmayboard.proboards.com/thread/4248/building-cars-live-tues-october

[joandie]

Thank you