Transmission - BBC Top Gear

Not so Captain Slow

The Mole — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:00:36 GMT

So the second show of the new series has burst onto your screens and, compared to last week’s show, it hasn’t - fingers crossed - upset anyone. Unless lots of people have decided to complain that it was unusually about cars for once. But the biggest shock about Sunday’s Top Gear wasn’t the lack of complaints, [...]

Not so Captain Slow

The Mole — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:00:36 GMT

For sale: Challenger, one careful owner

The Mole — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:00:36 GMT

So the second show of the new series has burst onto your screens and, compared to last week’s show, it hasn’t - fingers crossed - upset anyone. Unless lots of people have decided to complain that it was unusually about cars for once. But what, you might be wondering, has happened to the Dodge Challenger that [...]

Brawl in the USA

The Mole — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:02:19 GMT

Did you see our post on Wednesday from the telly studio? If so, you’ll already know from our behind-the-scenes spying roughly what your Sunday night will be like. TG exec producer Andy Wilman tells The Mole it’ll be a slightly more grown-up affair than last week’s show - so not aimed at seven-year-olds, but maybe 10-year-olds [...]

Will he break it?

The Mole — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:13:19 GMT

We’re trackside for Episode Two in the new series of Top Gear, and Will Young has just recovered a heroic slide around an increasingly damp Gambon Corner with a proper bit of opposite lock. Well, he’s quicker in the wet than Timo Glock at least… Thing is, just before the former Pop Idol winner jumped into the [...]

Top Gear take two

The Mole — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:14:26 GMT

It was filming day at the Top Gear studio for Sunday’s show today - and after earwigging the rehearsals this morning (and yesterday’s run through in the TG office) it looks like a corker. The bulk of the show is given up to an epic road trip from San Francisco to Utah, with Richard, Jeremy and [...]

Hammond in RT

The Mole — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:19:30 GMT

In other Hammond news, he’s on the front cover of this week’s Radio Times, with Gene Hunt, talking about what they’re both doing together for Children in Need. Hunt’s apparently handing Hammond the keys to that awesome Audi Quattro, which will certainly be worth watching on Friday November 14, BBC One from 7pm. Talking of the Radio [...]

Hammond’s Wipeout

The Mole — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:54:38 GMT

Richard Hammond has landed his own show, prime time, on Saturday nights next year, and it looks like it’s going to be pretty mental. It’s called Total Wipeout and is based on the US show Wipeout which first aired in June: Anyway, they’re filming eight, hour long episodes on the BBC’s newly built assault course in [...]

James on air today

Paul Regan — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:04:58 GMT

Simon Mayo must be a Top Gear fan. After getting Richard in to talk about, let’s be honest, his new book, James May takes his turn today (UPDATE: that was yesterday, Nov 3rd, so you can see him here…): We just spoke to the Five Live show producers and apparently he’s on just after 3pm, probably [...]

So that was episode one

Jamie Hibbard — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:03:16 GMT

So that’s the first show in the new series done then. What do you think? The best thing about this new Transmission blog is you now have a direct line to us - including Jeremy and the boys - so let us know your opinion. Post away then, and we’ll pitch in with the chat. And [...]

Last night nerves

Jamie Hibbard — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:42:03 GMT

As they say in the world of entertainment, ‘that’s a wrap’. Well, nearly. Tonight is the last night of Top Gear Live in London. But dry those tears, TG fans, and perk yourselves up. The show is going global, starting in sunny Birmingham on 13 November. After that, it’s going properly abroad, with shows in [...]

Day two at TG Live

The Mole — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:40:58 GMT

So day two of Top Gear Live is over. And we were there to see it - cos it’s our show, obviously. Anyway, the curtain went down for a second night, Stig wandered backstage with his Scalextric and the boys went to the pub, to make today’s show even better. And if you’ve got tickets for [...]

TG Live: first night

The Mole — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:45:23 GMT

So Top Gear live kicked off last night at Earl’s Court in London - the first show in a world tour with all the swagger of a stadium rock band, but more cars. After a suitably dramatic pyrotechnic build up and a bit of cocking about backstage, Jeremy was first into the arena - sideways in [...]

Sundays are back!

The Mole — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:42:31 GMT

It’s a busy one this week for the telly boys - aside from that gong last night, there’s tonight’s Top Gear Live opener and, of course, Sunday’s first-in-the-new-series show. Yep, we’re back on Sunday at 8pm on BBC Two - giving you just enough time to cook some tea after the big F1 finale in Brazil. [...]

We won a telly award

The Mole — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:26:00 GMT

The telly boys won a National Television Award earlier tonight for the most popular factual TV show. Jeremy, Richard and James couldn’t be there - cos they were down at the Top Gear test track filming the first episode of the new series - so they sent an emissary instead. The Stig. Stig handed over a [...]

We’ve won a telly award

The Mole — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:26:00 GMT

More show secrets

The Mole — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:00:17 GMT

The new series of Top Gear is so close you can almost smell it. Or maybe that’s just the contents of The Stig’s wash bag. We wish he wouldn’t insist on using fish fingers as a toothbrush. Anyway, we can’t give away too much of what’s coming up but suffice to one of the highlights will [...]

Back from ‘Nam

The Mole — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:19:47 GMT

Good news from the Top Gear TV office: At crack of dawn this morning our brave boys returned from Vietnam, all completely safe and well and with their limbs still attached. So, on the basis that no one got slightly killed or lost a leg in an horrific donkey accident, we’re giving the presenters a day [...]

New series start date

The Mole — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:21:37 GMT

Amidst all the excitement of sending the presenters off to Vietnam we seem to have forgotten to mention when the new series of Top Gear is actually back on the telly. TV scheduling is of course a murky business, and one that’s largely out of the production team’s hands. The BBC actually has dedicated scheduling people and [...]

Top Gear: back in the US

The Mole — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:56:18 GMT

The presenters might be out in Vietnam this week but that doesn’t mean the rest of the production team is lazing about smoking cigars and playing that Reliant Space Shuttle game on this website, oh deary me no. For one thing, there’s all the stuff we’ve already shot for the next series, now being cut together [...]

Hamster’s wheels

Richard Hammond — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:17:47 GMT

I’ve just moved house. Nothing unusual in that and the move itself was a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill house move: utter misery, everything lost, broken or won’t fit/wrong colour/too old/too new/not ours. Having shunted our pile of Ikea tat around the place for a day or two and grown shit-bored of trying to join in with the [...]

Top Gear vs The Germans: Jerry’s view

Jamie Hibbard — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:06:06 GMT

Remember when Jeremy, James and Richard battled the German Dmotor telly presenters in the last series? Well here’s a look at that head-to-head from the the German side. They still lost:

Hair ridiculousness

James May — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:12:24 GMT

A man in the Radio Times recently said that I presented everything through a curtain of hair. So, finally, I went and had it cut. That’ll show him. Incredibly, this means I no longer have the most ridiculous hair on Top Gear. I think Richard Hammond does. He disagrees, and so a row broke out [...]

The boys are in ‘Nam

The Mole — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:10:01 GMT

As the brand new Top Gear website glides elegantly onto the net-o-web we’re saddened to report that the presenters won’t be around to see it. That’s because, after years of dodging the draft, they’ve been sent to Vietnam. Fortunately, the war there ended 33 years ago so their mission is purely to make a jocular hour-long [...]

Generation game

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:50:00 GMT

Earlier this week, I invented a new game. It's called the Generation Game. OK, so Brucie will probably be on the phone in ooh, minutes, to sue my arse. But I'm claiming it as my own.

Cos it's got a car theme, see. So it's mine