Top Gear has had its day (or has it?)

Driving home on Sunday afternoon, the in-car conversation turned to that night's TV and the stalwart of the weekend that is Top Gear as we were all awaiting the last programme of the series.

Out of the blue, my friend, who has always been in my opinion the show's biggest fan, declared that he felt Top Gear had had its day and unless the programme's producers could come up with some drastic revision of the format then the show would die a slow and possibly painful death.

I was aghast.

This pronouncement came only a few weeks after we had discussed comments made by Angela Rippon (ex BBC news reader) that what the show needed was a woman's touch and that the all-male presenting team was outdated.

At the time my friend had ummed and arred about the concept of a woman on Top Gear, but as we drove home in the summer sun, he suddenly said, "I think she could have a point – a strong female figure who really knows her motoring could be just what the show needs.

"I'd watch," he added.

And this seemed to be the pertinent point because in the most recent short season he had confessed to having missed several episodes, preferring instead to sit in front of his PC and catch up on NFL news from the States.

Would a woman presenter make him get in front of the TV again, I asked.

"Oh, yes, " he said. "Clarkson taking on board the opinion of a woman about a car – that would be priceless."

And there you have it BBC programming chiefs. A female presence on Top Gear – it's the future and we, the British public, want it.

Image © tonylanciabeta via Flickr, under Creative Commons licence

# posted by Fuse @ 4:45 AM