Gambon
Top Gear needs to lose its test track – and The Stig
SO Whitehall bureaucracy has succeeded where the Argentine government, the Mexican embassy and the Daily Mail have failed. Even a late-night platter of cold meat – served in a North Yorkshire hotel, of course – tried to finish Top Gear off, but if you believe the tabloids then it's a dispute over building houses that'll finally force the Beeb's motoring juggernaut to pull over.
For those of you haven't had your head buried in the newspapers over the Easter weekend then it essentially boils down to this; the site where both the TG studios and the infamous test track are located have been earmarked for more than 1000 new homes, and last week Housing Secretary Sajid Javid ruled in the developers' favour. Perhaps in a few years' time Surrey's first-time buyers will be snapping three-bed semis in Hammerhead Close and Gambon Grove.
But even if it does go ahead, will it kill Top Gear off? Not a chance. In fact, I reckon it's exactly the shot in the arm that the show needs.
I reckon that with every series under the Harris/Le Blanc/Reid premiership the show's steadily getting stronger, by gorging itself on a diet of properly done, serious car reviews. The bits that are funny are the bits that don't feel forced; the hilarious segment with the V8 tractor worked because Matt Le Blanc really does have an infectious enthusiasm for farm machinery, owning four tractors in real life. And watching Chris Harris performing all those balletic mid-corner routines is wonderful because he's clearly in his element doing it.
But the bits that really grate are the ones the trio have inherited from the old Clarkson/Hammond/May era. Specifically – and forgive the very old TG reference – they need to find another old Jaguar, stick The Stig in it and fire him off the end of an aircraft carrier for good.
The Stig – invented by Clarkson and now Grand Tour exec producer Andy Willman to avoid having a dull racing driver setting the lap times – feels like a groupie who's outstayed their welcome, or that episode of I'm Alan Partridge where the protagonist awkwardly hangs around a funeral trying to convince someone important to give him a job. If the BBC won't allow the not-so-mysterious racing driver to rejoin his old chums over on The Grand Tour then he really ought to be quietly pensioned off, so the show's real stars can get into their stride. It was side-splitting when The Stig arrived in an Isle of Man-based TG episode on the baggage carousel at Douglas Airport, but now the character is baggage of an entirely different sort.
If Top Gear loses its test track it'll be a great opportunity to relocate the show, keep the good bits and dump all the bits that started wearing thin a decade ago, including the tame racing driver. Some say that he's no longer funny…
Posted in News, Opinion and tagged Chris Harris, Gambon, Hammerhead, jaguar, Matt Le Blanc, Sajid Javid, Test Track, The Grand Tour, The Stig, top gear, Tractor on 04/04/2018 by David Simister. Leave a comment