The new series, called Grand Tour, is essentially Top Gear but without the name and studio.
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Okay well, it got slated.
Kellie Yardley said: ‘New #TopGear is pretty much old Top Gear- same scripts, different faces- would have thought they’d have wanted to change it up a bit’. Furthermore, many zeroed in on the chemistry (or rather lack-of) between Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc that really fell flat.
He concluded by informing viewers the programme would be shown again tonight.
Chris Evans, who was one of the first to be announced as a new Top Gear host, told The Guardian a few days ago that he would be disappointed if the auto show debuted with less than 5 million viewers. OFFICIALLY. 23pc audience share. FACT. Won its slot. FACT. Still number one on i Player.
Viewers were much kinder to LeBlanc, best known from TV’s Friends as well as more recent series such as Joey and Episodes, and German professional race auto driver Sabine Schmitz, with some declaring the two the best part of the new Top Gear. FACT. These are THE FACTS folks.
The show, which normally brings in around £50m per year, included Evans’ attempt at racing Sabine Schmitz, a German driver, in Nevada, as well as the pair racing each other in their own customised Reliant Rialtos around Blackpool.
The real test for Top Gear and the BBC however may come over the next 72 hours as it airs in 80 countries worldwide.
Odds setters at fellow British bookmaker Ladbrokes believe that this could well be the final series of the iconic British motoring show, pricing its cancellation at just 1/2.
Notably, Evans previously said he would be “disappointed” with anything below five million.
Clarkson was returning home from Monaco on Sunday and so may have missed the show – and Evans’s dig at him.
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The new version of Top Gear comes months after Clarkson was sacked from the BBC after he assaulted a staff member.
