BBC/Netflix Top Gear - May Update

Top Gear Presenters - The Update


The three iconic & infamous Top Gear presenters have been splitting up slowly, but nobody has been absolutely transparent about whether they have or not


Jeremy has not been fired, sacked or had any other form of professional disciplinary action taken against him by the BBC; the BBC decided not to renew his Top Gear presenter contract for filming for the next season starting straight away.

James May claimed he was not at the scene of the fracas that resulted in Jeremy's contract not being renewed; it later transpired that he & Richard were filming on location with Jeremy, but not in the same room when the arguments broke out. The arguments travelled further into the hotel & carried on for some time; James & Richard are believed to have calmed Jeremy.

There is reason to believe there were other reasons that the lack of hot food to blame for Jeremy's outburst at one of the producers, who works on location.

Jeremy has had a little trouble in the last couple of years with leaks of footage that was being cut & being made to say racist & sexist content by producers.

James quickly responded to the announcement made by the BBC of Jeremy's contract non-renewal, saying "Jeremy is a cock, but I love working with him" & "I do not want to work with anyone else" promoting questions on where James & Richard stand with support for Jeremy.

Week beginning 13th April 2015

Friday 17th, Jeremy posts, on Twitter, about an article he has written in his Sunday column, tweeting "I have written about 'the thing" in the Sunday Times tomorrow" creating an uproar on Twitter & greatly increasing the hits on the Sunday Times website & the downloads from the Apple Store & iOS Newsstand.

Week beginning 20th April 2015

It is reported James has said he has not signed renewal contracts due to supporting, his best friend, Jeremy. He said he would not return to Top Gear if Jeremy was not reinstated.

It is believed Richard has delivered the same ultimatum regarding reinstatement of Jeremy; however, Richard does not confirm this speculation.

James' agent says that talks are ongoing with the BBC, but they are unresponsive to compromise and are not forthcoming to make any agreements with Jeremy & Top Gear.

Jeremy's schoolmate, ..., who helped Jeremy rebuild Top Gear into an entertainment program for automotive enthusiast in 2000 by taking on the role of the Executive Producer & owning 50% of a joint company, ..., set up by Jeremy & ... to manage their assets which included 50% of Top Gear (25% each). ... brought a crushing blow to some of the hardcore fans by leaving the company after having a hard time with Jeremy's lack of contract renewal and knowing that his own head was being hunted for supporting Jeremy.

Jeremy & ... sold their shares of their company to the BBC in 2012 (check), but have only just sorted out all of the final details before the fracas - some reporters have suggested that their was a feud between Producer (...) & Executive Producer (...) which lead to the fracas between ... & Jeremy.

James is no longer part of Top Gear, the BBC did not back down & ... has to find two replacement presenters for Top Gear.

All of this raises more questions about Richard, who has been happily tweeting away with updates about being bored and working on his own stuff, evening editing on a new computer & camera (he claims he already had both).

Friday 24th April 2015, Richard tweets a little cryptic update: "To be clear amidst all this talk of us 'quitting' or not: there's nothing for me to 'quit'. Not about to quit my mates anyway."

Richard could have two meanings, he is not quitting the show as he has not renewed a contract to quit & he is not quitting his support for his best mates.

One could suggest that ... will have to find three presenters to take the places of James, Jeremy & Richard; something that will be very hard indeed.

Netflix

Netflix has shown a great interest in Top Gear right from the beginnings of Netflix UK - Netflix has available nearly all of the Top Gear seasons for nearly every country Netflix is available in.

Netflix has shown their hand to James, Jeremy & Richard in the form of Top Gear with a bigger budget & Jeremy is in control, James & Richard are in control too, but Jeremy is the one to take control of most discussions & situations.

Netflix has presented ideas on scientific programmes with these formats:

  • James
  • Jeremy
  • Richard
  • James & Richard
  • James & Jeremy
  • James, Jeremy & Richard

Netflix nor James, Jeremy & Richard have suggested that any contracts have been signed - discussions could be ongoing or they are waiting to launch with the Netflix Original automotive show to replace BBC Top Gear.

Ideas Netflix could put forward to the presenters are reported to include:

  • An age requirement of 15 or parental consent/guidance
  • More of a budget
  • More episodes
  • Publish of all episodes at once to the public
  • A completely new live interaction program - like a Q&A special
  • Cars, stunts & general mayhem episodes - even more than usual
  • Specials with more car content & zero unnecessary racist or sexist content required by producers
  • New live shows in stadiums all over the world with live recording & potential for live streaming from the stadiums

The Future - My Suggestions

Top Gear Trio

Top Gear is no more; James, Jeremy & Richard should be trying to work out a new show with Netflix - Netflix will get so much out of the trio coming over to Netflix than by hosting BBC Top Gear content.

James, Jeremy & Richard need to do Top Gear-esq content on Netflix, whilst working on individual content & some group content in science & other fields for Netflix & the BBC.

Jeremy

Jeremy needs to be on BBC One HD's Have I Got News For You as soon as possible & would be an entertaining full-time host if Jeremy were able to fit filming into his already busy schedule from the other filming he would be doing.

James & Richard

James & Richard need to carry on with their science & engineering programs, but I would like to see the two of them working together with bright British minds at the College (A-level) & University (Degree) level in informative programming enabling the British public to see what our students can do already before they have entered the professional world.

Links & Sources

James May's Twitter
@MrJamesMay
Jeremy Clarkson's Twitter
@JeremyClarkson
Rich Hammond's Twitter
@RichardHammond
Netflix
Netflix Blog/News & Netflix Tech Blog