Talk:Top Gear (1977 TV series)

Untitled

Just a number of questions about the original Top Gear series.

1. Who was the bloke who used to present Top Gear who had a beard and always seemed to do stuff with Kit Cars? I think he was on Top Gear until about the mid 1990s.

2. Also I thought there was a female presenter (although occassional) did do reports on Top Gear well into the 1990s after Sue Baker had left. Was that Sue Baker or was this a different presenter?

3.Finally couldnt other former presenters such as Steve Rider (another Steve Rider who is not the current F1 and former Grandstand presenter who seemed to do a lot of stuff with motorbikes) and Anthony Ffrench Constant who I believe was only in for one series following Clarksons departure and was negatively recieved by viewers be mentioned in this article? --Wrh1973 18:02, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Answers:

1) Chris Goffey

2) Michele Newman

3) I think it was Steve Berry. He definitely deserves a mention. It wasn't Anthony Ffrench Constant who replaced Clarkson, it was James May.

Bob talk 08:51, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

I could've sworn there were more 'new' presenters alongside Jason Barlow for that particular Top Gear's final iteration, though? I really am referring to 2001-ish here. Weren't both Anthony Ffrench Constant and Adrian Wilson (or maybe there's somebody else I'm thinking of, who I can only recall by their face) also involved at that stage, as it seemed to have taken on a comparative 'new look' by then, shortly before its cancellation? And yes, I remember the ridicule on internet message boards of that final line-up, as of that time. MRacer (talk) 00:28, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

ISTR that at around the time he was a Top Gear presenter Noel Edmonds had an original Ford GT40 as his everyday road car. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.68.219 (talk) 17:38, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

Top Gear - originally a local show (for local people)?

"Top Gear started in 1977 and was hosted by BBC anchorwoman Angela Rippon, although the show was initially not networked throughout Britain."

So where was it shown initially? 217.155.20.163 00:12, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Birmingham (Pebble Mill) Bob talk 08:51, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

yes and it was a serious (although entertaining) show about real cars for normal people. Many people feel it was much better than the farcical format of Jeremy Clarkson. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.71.209.6 (talk) 18:31, 5 July 2016 (UTC)

Channel 5 or Five?

I noticed that Channel 5 has been changed to Five in the article. At the time when 5th Gear was launched (2001) it was still being referred to as Channel 5. Should the article reflect that? Alexj2002 09:23, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

Five has been renamed back to its original name, I made changes which state that. 89.216.56.7 10:08, 12 August 2013 (CET)

Wheelbase

Where does this show fit in? Could someone help with the dates that this started and ended and was it a straight replacement or did the two broadcast together at some point? Alexj2002 20:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Why is James May listed as being in the original format?

Why is James May listed as being in the original format? According to his page he started in 2003. I've seen the episode and they say it is his first time on TV.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.104.60.114 (talk • contribs)

Er, because he was in the original series - he replaced Jeremy Clarkson (see the episodes with roadtests of the Lexus IS200, Rover 75, etc) Bob talk 09:32, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Clarkson and NZPC?

"...Performance Car Magazine journalist Jeremy Clarkson in 1989..." the wiki link to Performance Car Magazine links to New Zealand Performance Car Magazine - I'm guessing that There's a UK magazine also by the name Performance Car Magazine that it should be linked to, or indeed that it's a total mistake. Tartanperil 12:51, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Article naming

Please see Talk:Top Gear (Current-format) for a discussion about these article names. Ham Pastrami 01:23, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Did TG start in '77 or '78?

[1] < This BBC News article says "The show began on BBC Midlands in 1978." and the first episode I've found information on was 13 July 1978. AlexJ (talk) 18:20, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

The original Top Gear started in 1977 as a local television programme and was not broadcast nationwide. The second series in 1978 was first broadcast on 13th July 1978 and was the first episode to be broadcast throughout the country. Chrizman (talk) 19:38, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

I think Vicky Joined 1997, not 1994

I'm watching an episode of TG from 1997 right now which is focused on the 1997 London Motor Show and Michele Newman just introduced Vicky as the Top Gear "New Girl". (DD)

I think you're right - I remember her starting as well, and I think it was a racing item. 1997 sounds about right, so I've changed it to that in the article. Bob talk 12:02, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Although, looking at her IMDB entry, it also shows her as becoming a permanent/frequent presenter in 1997, but she did show up in a couple of 1994 episodes so I guess it was correct. Sorry. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0125169/filmoseries#tt0163503 (DD)

I'm not sure myself about this - she had a single one-off appearance in 1994, but didn't start presenting regularly until '97. I think having it as '94 is a bit misleading as for two years, she did nothing on the show. I think the best thing is to go with 1997 but have a footnote explaining that she had a one-off appearance in 1994 - would that be satisfactory to everyone? AlexJ (talk) 16:36, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Sounds good to me Alex (me being the one that started this thread, I don't have an account here so don't have a sig) (DD)

If you press the ~ key four times, it will sign and date your comments. Bob talk 22:16, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. 84.155.226.111 (talk) 22:31, 20 July 2008 (UTC) (DD)

No mention of the show "Top Gear GTi" I see

This show was aired 2001 and 2002 on the UK Horizons channel (not sure if it was ever on BBC itself). It lasted for two series of seven episodes each and was presented by Steve Berry, Vicky Butler-Henderson and Tiff Needell, with occasional minor presentations from others. It wasn't a best of clip show of previous years Top Gears, like it sounds it might be, but was an actual current show. I see (as I'm watching it right now) that Jason Barlow made regular contributions too. edit: I just found a page about it over on the UKTV site: http://uktv.co.uk/people/item/aid/528215 (DD)

Interesting, from what I can tell it does indeed appear to be a UK Horizons exclusive (now UKTV). A quick google seems to suggest it ran from 1999 ([2]) AlexJ (talk) 22:19, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't it warrant a mention in the spin-offs section? (DD)

Yeah, go ahead and add it in. AlexJ (talk) 19:14, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

I've started to write an article about Top Gear GTi. According to my references that I am using, the show aired between 1999 and 2001, having run for four series with many episodes in it's name. The programme was broadcast daily on UK Horizons and was presented, quite rightly, by the aforementioned presenters. I have used the same site as AlexJ to find the information. Chrizman (talk) 19:27, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

PROPOSAL: Move to Top Gear (1977 Series)

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was move to Top Gear (1977 TV series). Jafeluv (talk) 08:56, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Top Gear (original format) → Top Gear (1977 Series) — Recently, there was a discussion on the talk page of Top Gear (Current format), the result of which was the renaming of the article to Top Gear (2002 TV series). (See the relevant discussions here and here) Looneyman (talk) 14:11, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

In compliance to the result of the discussion, maybe this article should be renamed to the proposed title.

As with the previous discussions, can we try to take WP:NAME and WP:TV-NAME into account when you put forward your arguments. Looneyman (talk) 14:11, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Survey

Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *'''Support''' or *'''Oppose''', then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's naming conventions.

• Support since, as I stated above, the article on the current format was renamed in this way and Wikipedia should be consistant with it's naming. Looneyman (talk) 14:11, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
• Support with condition that "series" be used in lower case, as with the current format article. YeshuaDavid • Talk • 22:23, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
• Support with condition that the page be Top Gear (1977 TV series), having "TV" in there per Top Gear (2002 TV series). Also, "series" should be lowercase. -M.Nelson (talk) 02:07, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Discussion

Any additional comments:

• I agree with both the conditions stated above. The new name should be Top Gear (1977 TV series). Looneyman (talk) 20:15, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Move completed, but...

 Done However, there are alot of pages that link to the original page - see here - maybe someone with AWB or extraordinary patience and the will to increase their edit count would like to rectify all of them to avoid unnecessary redirects. :) – B.hotep •talk• 10:02, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

 Done Fixed all the links from article, template and file namespaces. Didn't bother with talk pages or user pages, though. Jafeluv (talk) 10:52, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Excellent. Good job. – B.hotep •talk• 11:08, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Who presented it when?

does anybody who knows who presented the program when, please add the info to List_of_Top_Gear_(original_format)_episodes. It would also be useful if the format was actually described in this article? Thanks--86.15.153.179 (talk) 21:39, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Master Splinter of TMNT?

Someone vandalized the article and change the Execute Producer in the 2nd paragraph to "Master Splinter of TMNT". Somsone should fix it. Mojo-chan (talk) 12:07, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Changed back now, I'm baffled why you didn't just do it yourself though? Bob talk 13:40, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

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Top Gear or Top Gear (1977)?

Why is this article called "Top Gear (1977 series)? Top Gear has continued for many years since 1977. Vorbee (talk) 18:32, 3 November 2018 (UTC)

Request for Comment - No. of Hosts shown in Infobox

The article in question has a large number of television presenters listed within the Infobox under the section "Presented By". While there is certainly relevance to listing them, should the list be amended to highlight the more prominent presenters who worked on the programme, such as those who worked the longest on it, and those who presented it when it first premiered? GUtt01 (talk) 18:41, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

There are 39 names in the infobox, compared to 23 in the "Presenter line-up" section, so it does need to be trimmed down - first remove all those names that are not in the main list (Stephen Bayley; Russell Bulgin; Michael Collie; Tom Coyne; Mike Dornan; Judith Jackson; Marian Foster; Bob Friend; Barrie Gill; Stephen Lee; David Llewellin; Peter Macann; Stirling Moss; Gill Pyrah; Eric Richard; Malcolm Wilson; Stewart Woodcock). Then trim the remainder to originals and long-term presenters, eliminating those who were only in one season - or less.

Although I saw some of the very early ones (that only went out in the Midlands region, before it went national), the earliest presenters that I recall are Angela Rippon and William Woollard; I do recall Tom Coyne being the main anchor of Midlands Today for many years, but I don't recall him presenting Top Gear at all. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 10:46, 4 December 2019 (UTC)