Ironic, really. Just as the new incarnation of Top Gear finally feels like it's finding its feet - last Sunday's episode was tightly focused on the excitement of driving new cars, had a genuinely entertaining story comparing Rolls Royces in Ireland and, crucially, featured Chris Evans being himself rather than impersonating Jeremy Clarkson - the rumours about the supposedly "crisis hit" show resurfaced again.
Matt LeBlanc, reported English newspaper The Sun over the weekend, is unhappy. Tensions with co-star Evans have reached "breaking point". There was even talk that LeBlanc has delivered a "crushing ultimatum" that unless Evans is sacked, he won't take any part in a new series.
As usual, the inside knowledge was delivered by slippery "sources close to the show", so must be taken with a pinch of salt. And certainly, you'd forgive BBC bosses throwing their hands up in the air in frustration. After all, audience figures are finally on an upward trajectory following the previous week's disastrously small numbers, Top Gear's lowest since it was reinvented by Clarkson 14 years ago.
New presenters Chris Harris and Rory Reid both continue to give the show a youthful vitality and energy, and thanks to proper features on cars such as the BMW M2 and Jaguar F-Type SVR this week, Evans’ initial promise that he would make the cars the stars has certainly come to pass.
But at the same time, LeBlanc’s oddly subdued appraisal of the Rolls Royce Dawn could either be interpreted as studiously deadpan, befitting the sleepily ‘nice’ characteristics of a £250,000 car which will dry your umbrella for you or, well, a bit like his heart wasn’t truly in it.
When The National met Evans and LeBlanc before the series had even started, the relationship between them was obviously forced. We were invited to a further press day at the Top Gear test track but was strange indeed that LeBlanc was suddenly unavailable to talk to the media at the event. And after that first episode, we mused that LeBlanc - appallingly stilted in the 'live' studio segments (although admittedly he has got much better) - may not make it to a second series.
But what if he does, and Evans doesn't? It would be a remarkable turn of events for that to happen - Top Gear is still very much Chris Evans' baby and the show clearly needs an experienced television presenter at the helm.
Chris Harris, for all his impressive appearances so far, isn't that man and LeBlanc himself is a quick quipper rather than a frontman. Yet it's perhaps not entirely unusual that there have been so many rumblings of discontent surrounding Evans' and Top Gear.
There’s a lot riding on this show - both for the BBC themselves and for Evans’ reputation as a creative as well as a broadcaster. You wouldn’t blame Evans for feeling the pressure, and as he prepares for the last show in the series this Sunday, it would be horribly apt if Britain’s greatest television export ended up in as much leaderless turmoil as the rest of the nation right now.
artslife@thenational.ae
