Where Did the New Top Gear Go Wrong?
“Welcome to Top Gear!” shrieks Chris Evans, as the camera swoops in across the studio to give us a better look at the slightly unhinged panic behind his eyes.
In March 2015 last year, the BBC faced a dilemma. With Jeremy Clarkson dismissed from Top Gear, and his cohorts James May and Richard Hammond leaving with him, they were left without the iconic leading trio for one of their biggest-and most profitable-shows. The Top Gear brand was worth around £50 million per year and pulled in around 350 million viewers across the world when Clarkson and company left the show, according to estimates by the Guardian. Understandably, they couldn’t just dump the show and start over with a new Sunday night motoring magazine programme to fill the gap- no, they had to keep one of their biggest moneyspinners alive, at whatever the cost. The Top Gear brand was to be kept afloat, even with thousands of fans campaigning for Clarkson’s reinstatement and many declaring it dead after the trio, who fronted the show for more than twelve years.
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