Show’s producer admits ‘this incarnation of Top Gear is nearer the end than the beginning’

Top Gear producer Andy Wilman has admitted the popular BBC2 show is in danger of running out of road.

Wilman, who is credited with turning the show into a global powerhouse since relaunching it with presenter Jeremy Clarkson seven years ago, warned “this incarnation of Top Gear is nearer the end than the beginning”.

In a blog addressing criticism about the latest series, shown at 9pm on Sundays on BBC2, Wilman said he was looking forward to the end of the current run.

“Personally I’ll be glad to see the back of it,” he wrote. “We’ve done some good stuff this series, but we were too rushed and too knackered to get everything right.”

Top Gear’s ratings have been down this series – although at more than 5 million they are very high for BBC2 – partly because the show was moved to the highly competitive 9pm slot to avoid clashing with ITV1′s The X Factor.

However, viewers have complained about the editorial direction it has taken – in Wilman’s words, that “we’ve lost the plot, we’ve disappeared up our arses, we’re scripting everything, we’re predictable etc etc”.

Wilman said the presenters – Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May – were starting to become caricatures of themselves.

“I do believe we’ve now got the presenters playing to their TV cartoon characters a bit too much – Jezza the walking nuclear bomb, Richard the daft Norman Wisdom, and James the bumbling professor,” he wrote.

He missed “the three mates who mooch along”, pointing to a recent film about Lancias as an example where they recaptured some of the old spirit.

“I know James definitely feels that way, and Jeremy and I were saying the other morning how the Lancia film was a bit of a wake-up reminder that we can actually make good films just enthusing about cars.”

He defended the show against complaints that it was becoming too scripted, instead arguing that “you’re watching a show that’s lost its innocence”.

He said the show’s success after relaunching in 2002 had not been expected, resulting in “surprise and delight on the presenters’ faces”.

“That innocence has gone now, as always happens, because that’s the nature of TV,” he said.

“You all know the main pillars of our editorial, and we do our best to entertain, but none of us are going back to that first flush of discovery. But although that’s sad, this is not time for glumness because there’s still so much to do.”

He admitted that the show could not go on indefinitely.

“It’s fair to say this incarnation of Top Gear is nearer the end than the beginning, and our job is to land this plane with its dignity still intact,” he said.

“But ironically, that does mean trying new things to the last, even if they screw up, because, well, it means you never stopped trying.”

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Three party leaders set for election debates on BBC, ITV and Sky News, each between 85 and 90 minutes long

Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will go head to head in a series of live TV debates during next year’s general election campaign, broadcasters confirmed today.

It will be the first time that the leaders of Britain’s main political parties have locked horns in front of a television audience in the run-up to an election.

ITV, Sky and the BBC will each host a debate, in that order.

The hosts will be the ITV newsreader Alastair Stewart, the Sky News political editor Adam Boulton and the Question Time host David Dimbleby.

The debates, which will take place in front of a selected audience, will be between 85 and 90 minutes long and be broadcast in peak time.

The format of the debate will remain the same, with around half of each debate covering a specific theme.

Detailed arrangements for the debates will be finalised in the new year ahead of a general election expected to take place in May.

BBC and Sky are to make their programmes available to other broadcasters simultaneously, while ITV is to do so immediately after transmission.

TV debates have long been a staple of presidential election campaigns in the US, and their potential significance was recognised from the inaugural occasion in 1960, when John F Kennedy was deemed to have greater appeal than Richard Nixon thanks to the latter’s sweaty upper lip.

Although British politicians regularly clash publicly in the House of Commons chamber, they have been reluctant to be drawn into a gladiatorial contest in the glare of the TV cameras given the risk of committing a campaign-defining error.

But after strenuous lobbying by the broadcasters, Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have finally agreed to take part.

The BBC will host separate debates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland among all the main parties, to be broadcast on the BBC’s services in those nations, and across the UK on the BBC news channel.

The BBC said all political parties with “significant levels of support at a national level” would be given the chance to respond to the issues raised in the prime ministerial debate.

ITV said it would “observe its obligations of due impartiality in its electoral coverage and give airtime in other programming to the views of other parties as appropriate”.

Sky News is planning to broadcast separate debates in Scotland and Wales among the main parties there.

After its prime ministerial debate, it will also offer political parties that have significant levels of support at a national level the chance to respond.

“For the first time in British history, viewers will be able to watch the politicians who aspire to lead the country debate face to face as the electorate decides who should form the next government,” said Michael Jermey, ITV director of news, current affairs and sport.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that the first debate will be an historic moment in both television and electoral history.”

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