Credit Crunch Bites Top Gear - Budget Cut for 2009

James May, Richard Hammond & Jeremy Clarkson

Viewers will notice the difference

By Michael Gauthier
January 2, 2009 2:11 PM
Filed Under: Entertainment

The next season of Top Gear will feature a reduced budget that viewers will unfortunately notice according to producer Andy Wilman. In a posting on the Top Gear blog, he stated that cutbacks at the BBC have affected all shows on the network and his show would not be immune despite the fact that it is the second most-watched program on BBC Two.

Wilman went on to say that "...there is no fat to trim off the show, in that we waste almost nothing behind the scenes and the old cliche of every penny goes on screen is actually true." This most likely means that some of the more elaborate stunts and trips will be scaled down or the number of them in the season will be reduced.

Top Gear just wrapped up the current season by airing a Christmas special that was filmed in Vietnam while an earlier episode in the season featured a trip to America where the show was forced to buy a Dodge Challenger SRT8 because Chrysler declined to give them one.

Source: Telepgraph

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Comments

NotYet

January 2, 2009 2:33 PM

Too bad that will happen. But I think the TopGear crew could turn stones into gold. They're really capable of amusing the audience with the least budget.

mmr66

January 2, 2009 3:22 PM

dose this mean that They wont test supercars and have top gear challanges.

skychao

January 2, 2009 7:44 PM

well i think the supercar tests will still be there cause the companies lend the cars to top gear, but yea im thinking less challenges

simalive

January 2, 2009 4:48 PM

That's too bad. Looking at the bright side though, perhaps it's not that bad if they feature more typical car tests/reviews, instead of extravagant stunts and trips?

Tuner_Mad

January 2, 2009 5:41 PM

Oh no, my favorite TV show is gonna get cheaper! =(

Hope they won't lay of the Supercars and challenges!

Beetle

January 2, 2009 6:26 PM

Ha what rubbish , more like clarkson does not want a pay cut of his 2 million a year job , so they had to find the money elsewhere and reduce the budget.

Get_real

January 2, 2009 6:40 PM

Well said...

Maybe they should do a bit more of real objective testing like before.

carcrazy1234

January 2, 2009 8:11 PM

2 million a year is very large... however, in major corporate businesses, CEO's average over 10 million a year (i just took that right off the newspaper today lol)... seriously... why would he cut from his 2 million a year?? there's really nothing to cut down from there.

Beetle

January 2, 2009 8:34 PM

Blame the ross and brand fiasco ,Now the bbc are cutting top earners pay .

GanSan

January 5, 2009 9:52 AM

He doesn't just make his money from Top Gear; he's an automotive journalist outside of the show... Anyway, I think he deserves it. Most actors entertain me far less and get paid far more.

carcrazy1234

January 2, 2009 8:12 PM

hahahaha best line here --- "an earlier episode in the season featured a trip to America where the show was forced to buy a Dodge Challenger SRT8 because Chrysler declined to give them one."

wow!!!

911fnatic

January 2, 2009 9:09 PM

Doesn't bother me. I'm all for more of Clarkson's car reviews! The stories/trips, although funny shouldn't be overdone anyway in my opinion.

BabyMilo

January 2, 2009 10:58 PM

=( i love top gear just the way it is... I hav watched it for as long as i can remember (befor james may came so i would of been about 7 or 8 yrs old) and now they are going to hav a budget cut and that will mean less extravagent stunts and challenges wich are my favourite...

motorsport13

January 3, 2009 12:29 AM

this is not as bad as it looks, maybe they will not transform crappy cars into spaceships but they will still make trips and challenges they say next season they are going to go to chile and i dont mind if they test more cars cuz i think top gear is getting a little bit behind in testing cars

James2911

January 3, 2009 5:14 AM

I bet Hammond kept the Challenger afterwards :-).

great_supercars255

January 3, 2009 7:48 PM

NOOOOOOOO

WildMaverick1200

January 4, 2009 1:07 AM

So the Reasonably Priced Car....... will get an even more reasonable price?

Bristol411S3

January 4, 2009 1:07 PM

Because of the way the BBC is funded I can't see how the credit crunch would affect their budgets. More likely is that the recent Brand/Ross Fiasco and the subsequent backlash against profligacy at the Corporation has led to changes in order to ensure the show tracks the current political climate, as someone else suggested.

ubercool

January 4, 2009 1:09 PM

It's a shame, my favourite episodes are the foreign road trips they do, the £200,000+ cars they review are getting boring too watch these days, would like to see more realisticly affordable performance/luxury motors been driven.

jpm

January 5, 2009 12:56 AM

I completely agree with Bristol411s3, the BBC will still receive the extortionate licence fee from just as many people this year. As people have been saying for a while, the unique way the corporation is funded is sadly being affected by the stupid way it appears to be run. Why all these idiotic channels like BBC 4 and 3 that show poor quality programming, scrap that and give the cash to Top Gear or the makers of Natural World, nothing to do with cars but the shark one was awesome.

ubercool, no one wants to see stupid family cars and talk about boot space, if they do they watch fifth gear and buy Whatcar which is dull, lifeless and unamusing.

jandrews90

January 5, 2009 4:37 AM

2 million for a whole year sounds very reasonable, even if it is in pounds. On some tv shows actors/actresses make almost a million dollars an episode!

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