Top Gear 5/03/2017

The new, new Top Gear has arrived on our screens and with the absence of Chris Evans Matt Le Blanc has taken the lead. I'll be honest and say that I do like Chris on the radio but when it came to Top Gear it just wasn't right, like the kid who tried too hard to make friends at school and alienated everyone that kind of not right.

With Le Blancs Top Gear there is a face lift to the set with better lighting and some classic super cars in the background it looks nice and the new appearance adds to the refresh of the series in general. while the format is the same there have been some tweaks along the way with the Star in a reasonably priced car going back to the old track with a new car no less than a Toyota 86 which is quiet quick truth be told. The Stig has been dropped for the coaching of the guest with a presenter trying to guide them with a comic outcome. The reviews are nice and as always deliver entertainment and information at the same time with that classic Top Gear feel. The challenge in the first episode is fun and there seems to be more of a report between the presenters rather than last years effort where poor Eddie Jordan got bullied a lot seemingly.

The Challenge its self taking high milage cars from one side of Kazakhstan to the other to watch a space launch with mini challenges along the way. The presenting team have the same base qualities as the original three. Matt is the Leader taking Jeramy's role, Chris Harris on the left of the above picture is the James May with obsessive tendencies and Rory Reid the informed clown of the bunch and there for the Richard Hammond.  The mini challenges are more a kin to the Clarkson days and in time a rivalry will develop between them, Its a difficult thing to drop into a first episode.

Impressions, well a lot is going to be made of the two off spring from the Clarkson era of Top Gear those being the Grand Tour and the current version of Top Gear. Where The Grand Tour has a similar format it plays more for laughs and silly jokes with a back drop of cars, its easy when theres an established team who've worked alongside each other for a long time to take this avenue at the start of a new show and use it as the base for development. This Top Gear has made the car central and by sticking to its roots promise for a good on going series they've dropped most of the silliness and kept just a taste of the childish pranks well it wouldn't be Top Gear otherwise. I'm looking forward to seeing how the show develops as i feel it has a promising future and perhaps longer legs than its sibling.