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Television lifestyle programs have been proliferating on our screens for decades now, and with reality TV making such a large – and unexpectedly long – impression on our modern lives, it can be easy to forget how it used to be only a couple of decades ago.
Way back in 1977, the BBC started a car based ‘magazine style’ program called Top Gear on its lesser viewed channel BBC2. With a ragtag collection of B-list celebrities and fading motorsport drivers for hosts, it was very typical of its time, often swapping presenters with the more popular, and similarly formatted, Holiday program on the more stately BBC1.
Covering all things to do with motor vehicles, there were reviews of newly released cars and classic car events. Rally was introduced by Tony Mason and F1 by Tiff Needell, and all in all, given its time, it was pretty well received. Ratings were on the up and by the time a certain Jeremy Clarkson arrived on the scene, a cool 6,000,000 people regularly tuned in making it it the most watched show on the channel.
By the time the end of 1990’s kicked in though, things were not looking so rosy. Clarksons vitriolic banter riled many, and the show received criticism for not being environmentally concious, and for reinforcing macho stereotypes. Clarkson left the show in 1999 and the viewing figures plummeted to 3,000,000. The show ran on for another two years, but it was clear that this was the end of an era.
In 2002, most of the Top Gear production crew moved onto Channel 5’s Fifth Gear, but the BBC ruing the error of its ways, decided to relaunch Top Gear, this time as a studio based program complete with former Top Gear presenters James May (who replaced James Dawe after the first season), Jeremy Clarkson and new face Richard Hammond. The new look Top Gear was a hit. Winning an Emmy in 2005, numerous British Academy and National Television awards, the show is now believed to have a worldwide audience of 350,000,000, or 5% of the worlds population.
The inspired format change, far from distancing itself from the criticism it received in its former guise, seems to have courted it further, with outrageous reviews, scandalous disregard for the environment and even accusations of homophobia and bigotry. Calls from groups such as the communications watchdog and The Environmental Agency for the programs closure have merely rallied support for it. There really is no such thing as bad advertising in the realm of television.
Aside from it’s detractors, the shows popularity lies in its scathing and sarcastic approach to the car industry, and its offbeat approach to editorial style. For those that saw the attempted destruction of the Toyota Hilux by placing it atop a tall building before its immediate demolition, only for the car to rise from the ashes and still work, Top Gear has become far more than a popular TV program. Bucking the trend of the reality show, it hits near surreal highs, like the challenge set to the presenters where they had to convert an old car into an English Channel crossing boat! Even the more down to earth aspects of the show are fresh and hilariously funny, making Top Gear the most popular car based TV show ever.
