I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of the new look Top Gear on Sunday night. It had the right mix of familiar old raincoat with a dash of freshness in the form of Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc .. totally inspired choices of presenter to lead this established programme forward again.

The Star in a Reasonably Priced Car spot was well spiced up with the use of a 'proper' car and some off road work .. what a hell of a good idea that was. The silly challenges are obviously here to stay, but much funnier with Chris and Matt at the helm. Plus we did get to see a couple of really nice quick cars that none of us will ever get to drive, let alone own. Mention of the Dodge Viper was even made by Chris Packham on Springwatch, which quite surprised me, as I would have thought he'd have been far too preoccupied with preparing for his own programme to have seen it!

I was reading today that the audience figures for the opening show were 'disappointing' at 4.7 million. I wonder if that takes into account the fact that I, like countless hundreds of thousands of other Top Gear devotees, decided to record the show, because there was a preference in the house at the time for Antiques Roadshow. In my case my wife doesn't care for vroom-vroom TV programmes so we watch what she likes and I catch up later when she's gone to bed .. everyone's a winner!

The new Top Gear has set its own bar pretty high in the first episode .. I certainly hope it keeps it up for the rest of the series .. I can't wait for next Sunday now!

Widely reported as being 4.4 million actually

Have you seen his work? Many planks have a greater range!

Either it's time for your medication, or you're a friend of the producer.

I did wonder when I read this line...


SIARPC was all about celebs in something they wouldn't normally be seen in, not a works Cooper. And off-roading isn't pootling down a bit of flat topsoil, splashing through a small puddle then crawling round a big wide open 'hairpin' bend. Really it was toot, esp with Evans cheering each splash. How old is he?

Sorry sepang, your whole post complete with exclamation marks at the end of each paragraph reads like a press release. It really does!!! See?

Chris is that you ?

Well Oisin Tymon reportedly made a 70 minute journey to hospital on the day of the incident and Clarkson himself admitted that there was "contact". Apparently this contact was sufficient for Clarkson to issue an official apology and pay a fair chunk of the £100,000 out of court settlement that was reached after Tymon sued him and the BBC.

This is you allowing for "personal taste" is it?

I must admit that I have never watched Friends, nor Episodes, so his work is new to me.

Allowing for personal taste and taking the piss a wee bit surprisingly enough aren't two mutually exclusive things - shock, horror.

I find Matt LeBlanc very impressive in the roles he does. Yes he has a particular niche, but then so do most actors. If you haven't watched Episodes, you've missed a gem. It takes a certain type of person to be able to take the piss out of themselves as effectively as Matt does in that.

Was very pleased when I heard he'd got the Top Gear job and I think it suits him down to the ground, especially as he is a genuine petrol-head, even to the extent of rebuilding engines himself.

But shouldn't he be able to inject some believable emotion and depth into his delivery on TG, not to mention being more natural when on autocue?

I tried to keep an open mind and I will try to give the new series time but based on the first episode I don't hold out much hope of TG reaching the same heights of popularity it did before. That's not say it won't find a new audience who like Evans and his team and continue to be one of the most-watched programs on a Sunday but the days of TG being the best thing on TV (to be honest that hasn't been the case for a few series now) and a huge cash-cow for the BBC are over I suspect.

We have the figures now for the first mirrored / recycled episode after just two days

Chris has just tweeted

More bad news for the Top Gear haters: consolidated figures for the first episode of the new series have now past 5.6 million and counting.

I don't think he seems to understand the general idea that people will have tuned in this week to give it a chance and for the novelty factor.

We'll see if he's as smug as he is next week and the week after, it's the longevity of viewers that'll be his problem.

I think I'd prefer Chris Evans smugness to the small mindedness of Jermey Clarkson fans.

Figures released quickly. How are the calculated?

It's not the show reaching high hopes. It's whether the cost factor will continue. Having all those presenters the BBC could save a lot and spread the money over a few new shows.

Hang on though - many of those could well be those who gave it a chance and think it's a load of tosh, or those 'haters' who just wanted to confirm it would be as poor as they expected - figures over the next few weeks will be more telling surely? With all of the constant hype about the return of the show, they should have expected much higher ratings really, and start off with much of their best material.

The small mindedness is just as apparent in the Clarkson haters, of whom there appear to be many here.

À chacun son gout, nathanbrazil .. à chacun son gout!

Springwatch ... is that a BBC prog per chance

There is a campaign. CE and MLB hate each other....except they obviously don't.

Chris Evans is a bully who screams at people in a violent way...squaring up to people and threatening them.....except there is no one to verify this and no rumours have leaked out from the production team....

And I could go on.....but there is no evidence of any disharmony...pressure yes...but nothing more than that.

Trust me...the newspapers have just been making this stuff up...they know that it would be PR suicide for Chris Evans or the BBC to take legal action.

Well to be fair, you haven't stopped going on about how great Evans is and how anyone who criticizes the show MUST be a Clarkson fan and must support people getting punched in the face, I mean no offense mate but you're hardly an unbiased 3rd party in this.

I don't see many who hate Clarkson, just people who don't think Chris Evans is the anti Christ...and are brave enough to suffer being trolled half to death....

I think JC was hilarious, and he was the one who made the old Top Gear entertaining....but he's gone, and rightly so (he committed an act of violence that in the eyes of the law could result in a prison sentence...and he did that whilst working for the BBC)

Trying to blame people who quite liked..or didn't mind... the new show, shows you up as part of the problem.

I think Top Gear is a fun show, and I don't care who presents it....and it doesn't even have to be as funny either......although last Sundays episode did make me laugh out loud a few times...so it's a yes from me.