Tiff Needell said Top Gear put 'non-racing drivers into racing situations' (Alamy)Marc Wainwright Photography As BBC “rested” Top Gear for the foreseeable future after the Freddie Flintoff crash, former presenter Tiff Needell has reflected on the legacy it leaves behind and how the show changed over the years where they “got non-racing drivers to go into racing situations”. Former Formula One racing driver Needell — who absolutely loved his time presenting on Top Gear — admitted he would have re
He was one of the best TG presenters. I always thought they should’ve had him back to replace the Stig (beyond that one epsiode) as he could’ve actually given feedback regarding what the cars were like on the hotlaps.
Sooooo, just like hamster?
Chris Harris was a solid presenter, but other than that, definitely.
I must admit I disagree. I think he’s an excellent driver but didn’t work well on TV. The way he presented the show reminds me of the hosts of motoring YouTube channels that try to force some humour into what they’re doing and seem uncomfortable while doing it.
Ironically his videos on YouTube are far better than anything he did on TG. I feel he would’ve been well suited to the old show in the early '90s (or Fifth Gear) alongside Chris Goffey and Quentin Wilson etc.
Of the post-Clarkson presenters I found Rory Reid the best. Unfortunately he was paired with Matt LeBlanc and Chris Evans who were by far the worst presenters the show has ever had.
I like Harris as well but the problem is that he’s a car guy that happens to know how to host a show while Top Gear was built on very capable tv hosts that happened to be into cars if that makes sense
And they didn’t do him any favors but putting him with two bland co hosts
Strongly agree.
I know why Harris took the TG job and I can’t fault him one bit.
I also happen to think he was poorly suited for the job and is far better in the format he did on YT.
He also didn’t seem to have a single clue how to actually monetize YT. Honestly that entire era of YT from /Drive people is such a weird mix of excellent talent and content but seemingly no clue how to generate money from the platform to an almost comical degree.
He had to bend to the producers to act a certain way. In his various youtube channels it was just Chris and Neil, a car, a track and some tires.
On TG he had a script, and was paid to stick to it. Admittedly it came across as … not genuine? Forced? Matt Leblanc was way better with the script for example but for those who knew Chris’ dry, often dark and sardonic humour, the chipper-chap character the producers forced him into felt disingenuous
i don’t remember tiff’s reviews all that much except for the F1 one. that was prob one of the greatest car reviews ever. tiff killed it.
Yes, Chris was great, frankly it should have just been ‘The Chris Harris Show’ and let the other presenters go, they really had nothing of interest to provide. Well, other than Rory from AutoTrader.
one of my fav videos that i’ve watched 1000 of times and showed other people 100s was Tiff wringing out the mclaren F1 on the track from old 90s top gear. that whole mclaren f1 review was fuckin legendary. just thinking of that v12 wailing to 9k down the straight gives me goosebumps. you can tell it had a huge effect on Tiff as well. truly a legendary car and legendary driver. probably peak automotive television/entertainment.
The real Stig did give feedback, the presenters have acknowledged his feedback on some of their reviews. But the trio always wanted Stig to be the silent character on the show.