Top Gear

Top Gear special episode to wrap up Series 22

Well it is official, Top Gear is back! Briefly, anyway.

The BBC has today announced that Top Gear will return with an extended Top Gear special episode to wrap up Series 22.

The episode will feature two previously unseen films which were originally shot for Series 22, but ended up being cancelled after the whole ‘fracas’ thing went down. The two films are unrelated to each other, so studio links from Richard and James will help tie both stories together, when the one-off special goes to air on BBC Two on a date soon to be confirmed.

The first film sees Jeremy, Richard and James living the lifestyle of traditional classic car buffs, acquiring a Fiat 124 Spyder, Peugeot 304 Cabriolet and MGB GT before setting off an adventure incorporating brown beer, breakdowns (inevitably) and attending a car show where everything goes wrong.

In the second film, the boys attempt to become ‘lifestyle leisure enthusiasts’ with the help of some very ratty old 4x4s. Armed with a budget of just £250, the boys each purchase a high-mileage, low-quality SUV – Clarkson a Vauxhall Frontera, Hammond a Jeep Cherokee and May a Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin – before embarking on a series of gruelling challenges, including a battle with the Stig’s Leisure Activity Cousin, which climaxes with a race that has a terrifying penalty for the person who loses.The date of the broadcast has not been confirmed yet, but stay tuned! We’ll also update our countdown ticker as soon as we know.

 

BBC want to keep Top Gear co-hosts

Also in the news this week, the BBC is reportedly looking to keep Jeremy Clarkson’s former Top Gear co-hosts on the show despite his departure.

James May and Richard Hammond have been offered deals reportedly in the vicinity of £1,000,000 – £4,000,000 a year to stay on with the show. Such a deal would make the pair among the corporation’s highest earners. This also comes amid speculation the BBC will not directly replace Clarkson, but instead have a different guest host on each show.

The BBC used a similar tactic when another of its best known faces – Have I Got News For You host Angus Deayton – was fired after reports emerged of drug use and encounters with prostitutes.

A BBC spokeswoman and representatives of the two men declined to comment, but bookmakers have slashed the odds on the pair returning.

All three men’s contracts ran out earlier this year and the BBC refused to renew Clarkson’s after his much-publicised attack on producer Oisin Tymon. Several names have been put forward as possible replacements for Clarkson, including Guy Martin and Jodie Kidd, but another contender – Dermot O’Leary – has ruled himself out. The former X Factor host told the Daily Mirror he had not been approached about the job.

 

Netflix rumour still lingering

Meanwhile, reports of the boys reuniting for a new show on US streaming giant Netflix are as rampant as ever.

An inside source has reportedly claimed the trio and Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman are “very close” to signing a deal with Netflix, and have been in talks with several other outlets. Hammond and May are determined not to return to BBC without Clarkson.

“Flattering though it is to be offered huge sums, there’ll be no going back. It wouldn’t feel right and their heart wouldn’t be in it,” the source said. “They’ve always said they come as a team and that hasn’t changed.”

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9 comments

Scooby June 16, 2015 at 6:19 pm

Confirmed June 28th 8pm for the new episode . Awesome

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Scooby June 13, 2015 at 10:03 am

With them planning to put the last 2 episodes into 1 you would think it will be 2 hr long but obviously there is no “the news” and no SIARPC so I’m guessing it will be around 90 minutes long . Oh and on last nights TGI show on channel 4 the la Ferrari went round the topgear track in 1min 14.2 in slightly dam conditions

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the guy with no name June 13, 2015 at 10:28 am

From what I’ve heard it’s going to be ~75 mins. Also, I hope they’ve got the footage of Hammond going wing walking.

As for the Fezza lap it would probably be 2 secs faster on a dry track if the track was only ‘damp’ when they did it (I haven’t seen the lap). More evidence to suggest that hybrid super cars are stupid if a normal Pagani was only a second of so behind.

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Scooby June 15, 2015 at 12:40 pm

I thought that also , so in the dry in would be a 1.12.2, pretty impressive and fairly sure the p1 and 918 would be slower

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the guy with no name June 15, 2015 at 6:16 pm

I reckon that if the RedBull X2014 from GT6 was real it could do a <30sec lap.

On another note, I just read that the BBC briefly brought back Jezza to record the voice over bits for the final episodes.

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Hugh June 10, 2015 at 8:37 am

Well i’m glad to see there’s some heart in the BBC.

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the guy with no name June 10, 2015 at 10:39 am

It’s not heart, it’s fear of a massive TG fan uprising. 😛

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the guy with no name June 9, 2015 at 7:17 am

The last ever proper TG episode. It better be epic. Also, Hamster and Slow shouldn’t stab Jezza in the back, although that would be a very TG thing to do lol.

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Tony June 9, 2015 at 4:55 am

I really hope we see they boys back! I’m not sure how the Netflix thing will be released by week or what… because if they just throw it out there, Imma just binge watch it.

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