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It could have been a lot worse!

Here's Noel Edmonds presenting the show in 1979

[url][/https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Tp5u3s-BZg4#t=107url]

I think Rowan Atkinson would be a good candidate.

Any other nominations?

Or how about nominations for people who should never be allowed to be a top gear presenter?

My nominations are:

Chris Evans, Vicky B-H, Quentin Dracula, Mike Brewerseatenallthepies, Nigel Mansell. John Prescott.

Rather pleased Clarkson is leaving... He has become very predictable, dull and insensitive. I certainly won't be voting for his reinstatement!

If Top Gear is looking for a new presenter they need look no farther than Guy Martin. A 'man of the people', in touch with reality and boy does he enjoy SPEED!!! But he'll have to learn how to drive... not that it should be too hard for a TT winner.

Top Gear looks tired and predictable, and like premier league football i cant relate to it anymore.Clarkson could dissapear into the sunset for all i care.Would be nice to have someone championing some of the great businesses and highly skilled trades in the British car world,classic,kit,motorsport and all the small specialized firms supporting it.Watched last week JC was driving the F-type moaning there was no rear visibility.....from a guy who bought a GT40,bored/annoyed after 20 mins,At least i had the rear hubs to strip down in the garage to help me relax
regards
Paul

Guy Martin, yes, a good choice.

They would have to rig him to a machine that gave him a high voltage shock everytime he repeated himself 3 or more times on the trot, apart from that mannerism which really grates with me I love watching his programs.

Prince Edward

I reckon , keep the squirrel , bring in Chris Evans and an unknown and change the whole thing for a new fresh Top Gear ......about cars!!

Terry

7skypilot wrote:Rather pleased Clarkson is leaving... He has become very predictable, dull and insensitive. I certainly won't be voting for his reinstatement!

If Top Gear is looking for a new presenter they need look no farther than Guy Martin. A 'man of the people', in touch with reality and boy does he enjoy SPEED!!! But he'll have to learn how to drive... not that it should be too hard for a TT winner.

I'm not sure he's actually won a TT has he? I've seen him referred to in Stirling Mossian tones - "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship"

He'd certainly take TG in a new direction though - we might get a few more bikes on the programme.

Despite all of Top Gear's shortcomings it could be a lot worse. If you want to see exactly how bad have a look at The Classic Car Show on Channel 5 with Quentin Wilson and Jodie Kidd. The best thing the producers could do with those two is to give them a couple of lengths of 4"x2" and let them work out their differences. Truly awful and embarrassing to watch at times.

69S4 wrote:Despite all of Top Gear's shortcomings it could be a lot worse. If you want to see exactly how bad have a look at The Classic Car Show on Channel 5 with Quentin Wilson and Jodie Kidd. The best thing the producers could do with those two is to give them a couple of lengths of 4"x2" and let them work out their differences. Truly awful and embarrassing to watch at times.

I agree it could be better and Quentin does come out with a lot of twaddle but at least it's a reasonably good attempt to produce a car programme which isn't about a monstrous ego and two wannabe's.

Quentin's OK in small doses and Jodie genuinely knows and loves cars. I do wish they had pitched the content at a wider demographic and had not introduced the (I'm pretty sure) fake conflict between the presenters. The other slight irritation is that for some........reason..........Jodie .........has decided..........to copy ...........Quentin's .........speech ........rhythm.

They clearly have a good budget and it saddens me to think just how good a weekly classic car magazine show could be.

Count me firmly in the No Return camp. That eejit should have been sacked years ago. He's ruined Top Gear - a show that once was about cars. I haven't watched it in years for that reason. He'll probably be reinstated, though, as it's such a big money-earner for the Beeb.

It does seem here, and amongst most people I know, that Top Gear holds no interest but if you look at what is popular on TV you`ll see why.
I watched a bit on the Channel 5 programme and can`t understand why the producers didn`t. They`d realise that they need a personable presenter, not Quentin Greaseball, and the hopeless, scripted, patronising exchanges just make me wince. What a shame and missed opportunity.
Jim

I seem to remember the Top Gear lineup consisting of Jeremy Clarkson, Tiff Needell and Quentin Wilson, and that worked really well. Jeremy certainly provided the wit and the glue for the team, and the other two presented as themselves, one with an interest in the industry and market place, and the other with racing and performance.

The issue I have with the current lineup is that the three presenters have to deliver a scripted amusing or ironic quip in every sentence, and it can be painful to watch. None of the three are experts in any area of the subjects that they present, and two of them are very average presenters.

Clarkson is a natural 'anchor' man (no rhyming slang) and the show would be a lot more watchable if the other two didn't have the scripts that tried to keep up with him. But I still watch every episode!

I can't see the BBC walking away from ?80 million a year profit, but I would love to see the program change. Someone like Chris Evans would do a cracking job as the anchor man, then add in a charismatic race driver and someone who has been involved in the auction / marketing area and has a big picture view of the industry, past and present.

Whilst I agree that the content doesn't have to be ALL supercars and drifting, I don't think that a return to a William Woollard character enthusing about family cars, their economy, and how many kids they can carry, would be of any interest either.

Whatever we think, Top Gear in it's current format is incredibly successful around the world, and franchised in many countries, with the latest being China! Probably not quite so irreverent, but very recognizable as the Top Gear that Jeremy Clarkson helped to create.

Mark

That`s just such a balanced view, Mark, that you should present it, keep Captain Slow, and send Richard LookatMe Hammond to CBeebies.
Jim

We are car enthusiasts. We expect Top Gear to be about cars and driving.

In fact, Top Gear is not a car programme. It is an entertainment programme. That is why it has been so successful. People in general enjoy watching it, they have a laugh, they find it - entertaining.

If Top Gear was about cars and driving in the stricter sense most of us expect, then viewing figures would drop off, since we would end up watching it to be informed, others would no longer be entertained by it.

Tim

Too true, Tim. Too true.