THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOP GEAR

After the BBC cancelled the original format of Top Gear in December
2001, Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman met together to work out
ideas for reviving the programme for television. This led to them eventually
meeting the broadcaster to pitch the idea of changing it from a motoring
magazine format to one that was studio-based. Amongst the ideas that were
pitched included: the involvement of a fixed location for car reviews and other
films, alongside locations across Britain and abroad; putting notable cars
through a timed lap of a circuit; the involvement of test driver with veteran
racing experience, who handle driving some of the cars for the programme;
and the participation of celebrity guest who would be invited to take part in
an episode, undertake an interview over motoring matters, such as their car
history, and take part in a special challenge to do a timed lap in a designated
car. Following the pitch, the BBC decided to green-light the new format,
in order to create a programme to compete with Channel 5’s new motoring
show Fifth Gear, from which several original Top Gear presenters including
Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson and producer Jon Bentley went to.
Production began in mid-2002, with the broadcaster securing the right to
use Dunsfold Aerodrome, an airport and business park in Waverley, Surrey,
as the programme’s fixed location while its runways and taxiways were
allocated for reviews and other films, one of the site’s large aircraft hangars
was transformed into Top Gear’s new studio. To match the proposed ideas for
the new format, the BBC gained assistance from Lotus to design a race circuit
for use on the programme that would be situated at the fixed location, while
editing of films that were recorded for each episode, focused on extending
the runtime of the programme to one hour. Wilman took on the role of the
show’s executive producer, while Clarkson became part of the hosting line-
up. Because those who had worked with Clarkson on the original programme
had left the BBC to work on Fifth Gear, the production team arranged for
him to be joined by Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe.
A difficulty found during production revolved around the show’s test
driver neither Clarkson nor Wilman could find a racing driver with ex-
perience at speaking on-camera. In discussions over this, the pair opted to
make the driver silent, and later having their identity concealed. When they
recruited Perry McCarthy amongst their possible candidates for the role, his
input led to Wilman choosing to nickname the test driver as the Stig.