Former BBC' Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have signed up to present a new show on Amazon's streaming video service. The trio will front three series of a new motoring program for Amazon Prime, with the first season to be made available worldwide in 2016.
British TV and radio personality Chris Evans will replace Jeremy Clarkson as the lead presenter of an all-new Top Gear line-up, the BBC has announced. Evans said he was “thrilled” to get the job, describing the motoring show as his “favorite program of all time”.
The BBC Trust has rejected complaints over Top Gear's Patagonia special, in which a car number plate which appeared to refer to the 1982 Falklands war. The production team fled Argentina following protests over the use of the registration number H982 FKL.
Critics agree only the segment where the crew is chased and thrown stones at by angry Argentines has some 'action'. The rest is the usual Top Gear travelogue.
When filming in Patagonia, the BBC crew and host Jeremy Clarkson were forced to leave the country after locals saw their cars' license plates, which were deemed 'provocative'.
A BBC crew is currently filming in Tierra del Fuego a documentary on the wildlife of the Beagle Channel Islands. The crew is escorted by an observer from the provincial government and according to local officials it had to sign a document by which when the material is edited it must clearly establish that it was filmed in Argentine territory, with support from local authorities.
The BBC Top Gear team which last October toured Argentina with three vehicles and which triggered a strong controversy apparently had three different plates in just one car and tried to torch the vehicles to cause further 'scandal', according to reports from the Patagonian police which were attached to a second letter sent by Argentine ambassador Alicia Castro to the BBC Executive Board.
The Foreign Office did not incur any costs in providing assistance to the BBC Top Gear team which was recently in an Argentine tour and was forced to leave the country under protection, following alleged disrespectful references to the 1982 Falklands war by the team.
After refusing to apologize to Argentina over a much questioned Top Gear episode filmed in Argentina considered “offensive” by the government of President Cristina Fernandez, the BBC has taken the controversy to the next level, deciding to air the episode in the network’s prime-time Christmas slot.
Ambassador Alicia Castro has addressed a letter directly to the Chair of the BBC Trust requesting formal apologies for the “false and biased” account reported on the BBC program “Top Gear” filmed in Argentina, and in a veiled subtle way ends hoping that the long established relationship between Argentina and the BBC, “will continue to blossom in the future”.