With Chris Evans out, what’s next for Top Gear?

While the BBC says Evans won't be replaced, Steve Coogan might just be up for the task.

Chris Evans, left, standing with The Stig in Cannes, France. Evans announced on Monday that he is quitting the BBC ’s flagship car show Top Gear, saying ‘standing aside is the single best thing I can do’. The show’s finale drew just 1.9 million viewers. Yui Mok / PA File via AP Photo
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So, what now? The great post-Clarkson Top Gear experiment is in tatters after just six episodes, with record low audience figures and the departure of its main man and creative lead, Chris Evans. As most of the rather gleeful reports in the UK press took great amusement in suggesting, Top Gear has become like watching a major football club lurch from crisis to crisis, with Chris Evans cast as doomed Manchester United manager David Moyes to Clarkson's Sir Alex Ferguson.

And to continue the sports terminology, Evans has departed by mutual consent, with the show languishing. But before BBC bosses get stuck in to the business of trying to fashion a new series (supposed to begin filming in September) they’d be wise to work out exactly why Evans failed so spectacularly.

Right from the start, when The National spent some time talking with Evans about the challenge of making Top Gear work, he was chippy but respectful of the legacy, excited but nervous. He talked of the second series being the one where he could put his stamp on the show, which seemed strange. Evans knew he was going to take the brunt of any criticism, but as long as he could prove that the show was heading in the right direction, then it would be worth it.

But publicly putting a number on an audience figure he would be happy with (5 million) was a disastrous idea, and combined with a first show so dreadful it was a surprise it was broadcast, unnecessary pressure was piled on when audiences never met that magical number. Actually, as the series continued to its ignominious ending, there was much to like. But Clarkson die-hards had made up their mind, and for those who did stick with Top Gear, the sections starring Evans became curiously underpowered. The last show had just 1.9m viewers.

Under the circumstances, it's hardly a surprise that rumours began to spread of disharmony on set due to Evans's increasing frustration: stress combined with ambition to succeed is always a recipe for disaster. In the end, a combination of unhappiness, a police investigation into his private life and perhaps just a smidgen of forlorn concern that he might be the problem made Evans's departure inevitable. Perhaps he was even relieved to be out of it: the first song on his BBC Radio 2 breakfast programme yesterday morning was Free's Alright Now, and he titled the show "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On."

As will Top Gear. There is no suggestion that the next series will be scrapped, and though one might expect the business of finding another co-host for Matt LeBlanc to begin right now, a BBC spokesperson said yesterday "we have no immediate plans to replace Chris Evans and do not expect to do so going forward".

Which is a surprise: while LeBlanc was great in the filmed segments, it took some time for his studio presenting to be anything other than a bit, well, rubbish. So a Top Gear helmed by him alone is surely not on the cards. Giving Chris Harris, Rory Reid or Sabine Schmitz a bigger role – entirely possible given their impressive work on this series – is still a leap of faith.

Interestingly, in the UK, comedian Steve Coogan is being talked up again – and it would make a lot of sense. As someone with a working knowledge of Hollywood, he’s likely to have much more in common with LeBlanc, he loves his cars, has a real eye for innovative storytelling and isn’t afraid to laugh at himself.

A “huge fan” of the show (he’s been on it three times), in many ways he’d be the perfect choice … if it wasn’t for the awkward fact that, as Coogan tells it, he was approached by the BBC before they turned to Evans and turned down the opportunity because he couldn’t “handle the pressure”. Perhaps, given certain assurances – and now that the show has hit a nadir – he might reconsider.

Those assurances, surely, have to be to make a clean cut from the past, take some risks, and revamp the show entirely. That might mean some features have to go. Star in a Reasonably Priced Rally Car was so irrelevant, even the talent on it had to explain the reason they were there. The Stig, much as it might pain some fans (and BBC branding executives) also feels a bit of a throwback and Eddie Jordan has been a mistake. And when the longer features get commissioned, some original, funny ideas wouldn’t go amiss.

Whatever happens, there are probably three middle-aged men finding the BBC's troubles incredibly funny. And it's Clarkson, May and Hammond's turn next, with The Grand Tour out in the autumn on Amazon Prime. You can bet they'll enjoy a smoother ride.

artslife@thenational.ae