Today, the BBC announced a change in leadership to the Top Gear brand in the addition of Chris Evans as new lead host of the internationally popular TV show.
“I promise I will do everything I possibly can to respect what has gone on before and take the show forward,” Evans said.
The change in hosts comes after the fracas between ex-lead host Jeremy Clarkson, who has been lead since the show since 2002, and a producer of the show earlier this year.
While Evans has been announced as the new lead, both Richard Hammond and James May have already stated that they won’t be returning to the show unless Clarkson does.
James May has already begun hosting auto-reviews on YouTube, though they don’t pack nearly the punch of the old TG segments.
Kim Shillinglaw, controller of BBC Two and BBC Four also had a statement about the change in leadership of the flagship show.
“I am so delighted that Chris will be presenting the next series of Top Gear. His knowledge of and passion for cars are well-known and combined with his sheer inventiveness and cheeky unpredictability he is the perfect choice to take our much-loved show into the future,” Shillinglaw said. “Chris is a huge fan of Top Gear and has great respect for the craft and work ethic of one of the best production teams in the world. He knows the phenomenal attention to detail it takes to make a single sequence of Top Gear, let alone a whole series. He is already full of brilliant ideas and I can’t wait for him to get started.”
However, ‘huge fan’ and ‘knowledge and passion for cars’ does not a Top Gear Presenter make. Whether or not he will fill the large hole left by Jeremy Clarkson has yet to be seen.
Filming for the next season of the show is set to begin in the next few weeks, so it won’t be long until we find out.
Comments are closed.