Hello CT. My name is Richard Porter and I was the script editor on Top Gear. Ask me anything.
After working on the show for 13 years, 22 series and 175 programmes, there’s quite a lot I can tell you about Top Gear. I know whose idea it was to get a dog, I was there when we got threatened by drug barons in Bolivia, I can give you the real story of that Porsche number plate.
After working on the show for 13 years, 22 series and 175 programmes, there’s quite a lot I can tell you about Top Gear. I know whose idea it was to get a dog, I was there when we got threatened by drug barons in Bolivia, I can give you the real story of that Porsche number plate. I’ve put all these things in my new book, but you can ask me about them anyway. Or something else. Up to you. I’m here all night. Try the soup in a basket.
Comments
Who came up with all the Stig introductory lines ? “Some say…..”
Ah, yes, that would usually be me.
What was it like working with Jeremy, Ricjard and James? Did they get stressed a lot or was it generally chilled out?
Getting TV made can be a stress for various reasons, usually time related. But we laughed a lot.
Hi Richard, I’m getting into film production and was wondering, how big was the crew on Top Gear?
Not that many people in the office. Maybe 12-15 on the production team. Big three presenter film would have 3x camera, 3x sound, 2x camera assist, 2x minicam, plus half the office team on location. That’s a rough average though. Depended on what we were filming and where.
Was Oliver really repaired that same night?
I know this is maybe pretty obvious but, the races between supercar and public transport are really nearly as close as it’s shown? What’s usually the difference in time between the winer and the looser?
Aston v train wasn’t as close as it looked on TV, though the result was real. After that we worked harder at back-timing the journeys and the result was Ferrari v plane which was very, very close indeed. A lot of planning went into those films to make them as close as they possibly could be, based around carefully choosing the start and end points.
I know you already answered this but does he like the sandero THAT MUCH?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PkKTZxp-Zw
He does. There’s Sandero goodness explained in my book. Ah-ha! A subtle plug that you didn’t see coming, right?
Your book kept me up the other night - good work, although I think it was partly due to a messed up sleeping pattern, but definitely due to the suspense of waiting for the naan story.
Just a couple of questions:
What happened to putting Jeremy in a really rubbish car, and just lighting the touchpaper? His and James’ film of the pacific rim cars is brilliant. Much better than Supercar of the week.
Do you think the Amazon show will have that same, slightly shonky, naughty feel that came from the BBC environment, or will it not have anything to play off, if they’ve been given no limitations (apart from presumably pissing off amazon customers in entire countries)
Ha! I always liked that film too. ‘Pacific Rim… ming’ as its working title was in the office.
I can’t say what the Amazon show will be like but different for certain. But you can be sure Jeremy and everyone else is aware that it’s a different broadcaster and they’ll work with that.
Was the scandal that got Clarkson sacked as serious as it was made out to be in the media?
Why were series 1 never shown on Dave? What happened to them?
Did you ever consider filming in Austria? We’ve got some great roads and Mozart…
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