Forget the monumental donuts, the tabloid tattle and reports of on-set prima donnas. There’s only one thing that’s going to settle this…
No publicity is bad publicity, so the saying goes. Which is just as well for the Top Gear production team, because plenty of friction has been reported from the sets of the revamped car show.
First of all, there was the donut stunt at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, which was viewed as disrespectful to those the monument memorialises. This, according to the UK's tabloids, created a rift between fellow petrolhead presenters Evans and Leblanc.
But the duo appear to have put any bad blood behind them by getting 'married' in Blackpool – as featured in the third and latest trailer for the show.
However, that trailer (the UK version) created a new problem: of the several thousand people who rated the clip, more than 80 per cent gave it a thumbs-down. Oops.
The BBC have pulled out all the stops for the revamped show, which in 2014 was broadcast in 214 countries. They've replaced the outgoing and undeniably charismatic Clarkson, Hammond and May with a diverse team of presenters. To many, hiring former Friends star Matt Leblanc was the biggest masterstroke – making the show much more appealing to that all-important American audience. After all, outside the UK, Chris Evans is completely unknown.
And the fact that the BBC avoided carbon-copying the three-man presenter formula also speaks of fresh thinking. But of course, in order to succeed, the show will need the kind of entertaining stunts, challenges, reviews and tomfoolery that made the 22nd series so watchable.
Not that the Beeb hasn’t thrown plenty of money at the show to pay for these shenanigans.
While Evans, Leblanc and Company have a tough job ahead of them, they can be glad of one thing: people are still talking about Top Gear.
We can debate how good the new show will be until we're blue in the face. We can keep lamenting Clarkson's termination, or the constant tabloid stories about prima donnas and conflicts on set. But every Top Gear fan from Tehran* to Teddington will still be sitting in front of the telly when the big evening comes. Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May will no doubt be on their sofas too.
And only then will we know if the Beeb are on to a winner – or a prime-time turkey.
*Iranian viewers might have to wait a little longer to see the show.
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