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Top Gear

Top Gear – Season 15 preview

Top Gear - 15x01

As most of you will know, the wraps are about to come off a new season of Top Gear (and a new Reasonably Priced Car). The first episode goes to air on UK screens in a few hours and over at the offical site Andy Wilman, Executive Producer, gives us a preview what to expect.

Wilman also holds high hopes for Series 15, “We’ve shot some really good stuff for this run. Those of you who read these blogs regularly know I’m the first to ’fess up if we’ve done a stinker, and that I love a nice dose of pessimism – and you know I thought the last series was up and down. But I’m looking at the contents on my little wall chart thing now, and there’s some quality work here.

“And if you like your TopGear served up with a dash more petrolheadery, then just wait for the Senna tribute we’ve shot, where we’ve got an exclusive with Lewis Hamilton driving Senna’s 1988 F1 car. We all love Lewis for the way he wears his heart on his sleeve when he races, and it’s the same when he shows his emotions for his hero.”

The Senna piece sounds like it has the makings to be an all time classic Top Gear segment. Let’s hope Lewis doesn’t stuff it.

[Source: TopGear | Pic: TopGear]

UPDATE: Speculation via the Car Lounge at VWvortex.com suggests the new Reasonably Priced Car is the Kia Cee’d.

UPDATE 28 June: An informative video, of sorts, featuring Jeremy Clarkson has been posted to the TopGear website. You can see the clip below in which Jeremy confirms the Cee-apostrphe-d’s new status as the Reasonably Priced Car.

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Top Gear – Series 13 (now with budget cuts)

Top Gear - Series 13

Internet speculation suggests the next series of Top Gear will return in March June 2009. What is not speculative, though, is news that Series 13 will be produced for less coin due to BBC budget cuts.

Speaking on his blog, Executive Producer Andy Wilman said, “next year we’re getting a budget cut. No point in moaning about that—all shows are suffering and nobody’s got a pot to piss in anymore anyway, so no reason why we shouldn’t suffer as well.”

“Our problem though is that there is no fat to trim off the show, in that we waste almost nothing behind the scenes and the old cliché of every penny goes on screen is actually true.

“So in 2009 the budget cut has to affect what you watch,” explains Wilman.

The cuts are estimated to be around thirty per cent, which would bring the costs down to around £140,000 per episode, based on current estimates. Perhaps they could start with trimming some fat off Jeremy Clarkson’s salary, believed to be in excess of £4M per year.

[Source: TopGear.com, Telegraph.co.uk and CarAdvice]

UPDATE 17 April: Top Gear, Series 13, will return on 21 June. [Source: finalgear.com]