TGTV update: Alfas, the Germans and 186mph
Posted by Andy Wilman at 12:00PM on Monday 02 June, 2008 11 Comments
Another quiet week at Top Gear. We've just finished shooting our Cheap Alfa Romeos Challenge, Top Gear vs The Germans is also in the can, our new character has just shot his or her films, and in the edit suite I'm very happy with our We Can Make Better Police Cars piece.
Richard's just shot a birthday tribute to Touring Cars, and Jeremy's fiddling with his CLK Black film, cos he's not happy with the structure. There was a scary moment when he said he'd found some music that would improve it, but fortunately this time it wasn't a 16 minute keyboard solo from the 1970s, and it actually has improved it, not that any of us in the edit will ever tell him.
He heard it during a piano recital at his daughter's school - this is how Top Gear works you see, we're all terribly sophisticated really - and I think it's composed by the same bloke who's music we used for the last 30 seconds of the Greatest Driving Road film in the last series.
Elsewhere Lord Stig has come out of suspended animation and whacked in his first lap time of the new run. It's for the F430 Scuderia and bugger me, glue down any ornaments on top of your telly.
I've also ordered a new air conditioning unit for the studio, which like every other one we've tried, probably won't work. So if you're in the audience for this run, try and faint quietly, because it breaks our flow when you crash to the ground.
Then, towards the end of the week, Jezza told some socialist hippies at a book festival in a field that he'd driven at 186 mph through the Limehouse Link.
Now the thing is, you'd need a frigging Tardis to do 186 mph in the Limehouse Link, but nevertheless all hell broke loose and the Daily Mail Outrageometer burst a blood vessel, with loads of other papers close behind demanding JC's head.
There were even two paparazzi dispatched to sit outside his house, which seems a bit of a waste of a day for the poor chaps, because if Jeremy gets the urge to pop into town, he's hardly likely to come down his drive in a Top Fuel Dragster.
Obviously we've now sacked him and he's at the dole office, but what's depressing about all this to me is that we're in danger of becoming a country where it's a crime to be fatuous, to make mischief or just practise the fine art of talking bollocks.
Soon everything we say will have to be the flat, down the line facts of the truth - no hyperbole, no white lie, no 'it was this big' nonsense from the amateur angler - just state things the way they are, like the instructions on a washing machine.
Making mischief frees the imagination, it quickens the pulse. It should be taught in schools. Watch that film Big Fish and you'll see what I mean.
Check back tomorrow for the second part of Andy's Series 11 update.
Andy Wilman is the executive producer of Top Gear.
Advertiser links
11 Comments for "TGTV update: Alfas, the Germans and 186mph"
POST A COMMENT USING THE FORM BELOW
Comments are now closed for the blog archives.
Looking forward to the new series. What you say is sadly true. As someone who likes to crack a joke now and again or say something slightly misleading, I'm finding people don't 'get it' so much these days. Any suggestions which country still has a sense of humour?
I'm considering driving a H2 to Hay next year just to cheer up the hippies that little bit more. I'm even considering strapping a couple of dead sheep to it for lunch.
OK, maybe I'm being a bit 'Big Fish' too, but I think that nicely illustrates the idea that what we say we do and what we actually do are not necessarily the same thing.
Top Gear can't come back soon enough, as far as I'm concerned; a little fun and escapism, wrapped up in hyperbole and trimmed with mischief, is good for the soul.
Nice update! Can't wait till the new series.
Oh and please! Mr. JC did not get in the top 5 most witty persons of the UK in history by putting his words in the same unambiguous way as a cake recipe...
As a Dutch bloke 'the fine art of talking bollocks' is something I miss in this country. Glad I can receive the BBC channels...
I'm positively squirming in my seat waiting for the new series to start and those little tasters have not helped to calm me down.
Nice publicity stunt too, getting JC to annoy a few do-gooders. Next time though, could you get JC to mow them down while he's 'doing 186mph' and make the world a better place?
In the new series, please could Jeremy teach us all how to do the 186 mph through the Blackwall tunnel? Because it's real pain in the nether regions and it would make my life a lot simpler!
Getting really, really way too excited about the new series now - fingers crossed I get the chance to experience the new air conditioning!
Oh man! Do they know how stupid they look for believing he could do 186mph in the Limehouse Link?! That sense of mischief is exactly WHY we like Top Gear...
I just can't wait for the new series and all the outraged twits who'll take it oh-so-personally. Let the FUN begin!!!
The new series sounds absolutely amazing!
Oh, and Cressy, I think the way to do 186mph through the Blackwall tunnel would be to do a Batman and go so fast you could drive up the wall and then go along the ceiling. Perhaps the TG guys could try that in their next race - watch the elfinsafety blokes fill in a risk assessment form for that!
These updates are the best. They just keep increasing my blood pressure and my expectations for the show.
It's so much better to know what's coming up...
We live in a world getting more boring by the minute! If political correctness had its way, fun would be made illegal!
Thank God (and the BBC) we have Jeremy and his team at Top Gear to remind us what it is like to be ... young!
As a fan of the re-run episodes in the U.S., I am very pleased to hear TopGear is gearing up for another season. Any chance they will be on BBC America at some time? As for the "political correctness", I agree, you can't make a joke or exaggerate anything without offending someone.
Please tell Jeremy if he's ever in Southeast North Carolina, feel free to go by my house at 186 mph, I'll be standing on the roadside cheering him on.
New character eh? I just hope it isn't 'Top Gear Cat', and with that, where has Top Gear Dog been?
I had heard some rumours that Jeremy had decided to call time on his career, and I'm pleased to hear that it is not the case, and his unique brand of grossly inappropriate antics towards 'eco-mentaists' remains as strong as ever!
It's great to read an update on this new series, and I will be certain to tune in, as well as millions of other fans!