Yahoo Autos Top Gear Is Making Some Huge Changes Before the Next Season
Last week, unpopular Top Gear host Chris Evans announced he was quitting the show. For fans who were frustrated with the way he'd led the program after Jeremy Clarkson's unceremonious departure, this was great news. But simply getting rid of Evans wouldn't be enough to save the popular British car show, which is why it's encouraging to see the BBC making some major changes behind the scenes.
According to The Telegraph, two of the other hosts will be promoted, and a celebrity road trip feature will be added. The popular Christmas specials, however, will be dropped. And while the rest of the current hosts will remain, there will reportedly be quite a few changes off-camera.
Evans was previously given the responsibility of being "creative lead," but that job will now be done by Alex Renton, a long-time Top Gear staff member who has been with the show for more than a decade. The show is also looking for a new producer who can be calm and mature on set, two areas Evans was rumored to struggle in.
Finally, more writers will be hired to ensure better, more-polished scripts. The other hosts were reportedly unhappy with how rough the writing was this last season. For some unknown reason, only a single writer was originally hired for last season.
"Jeremy Clarkson used to hone, and hone, and hone the script. He was obsessive about it. They over-resourced the technology side, and under-resourced the parts that add finesse," one senior employee told The Telegraph.
We'll see how effective these changes are when the show airs again early next spring.
