We take a look back over the decades of this iconic motoring TV Show and its past presenters…
On the 22nd of April 1977 Angela Rippon and Tom Coyne presented the first episode of Top Gear, broadcast on BBC 1 Midlands in the UK. Shortly after, the BBC’s national network took on Top Gear. The 30 minute weekly show was broadcast on BBC Two, presented by Angela Rippon and co-presenter Barrie Gill and premiered in Ireland on RTÉ 2 (later named Network 2).
For the second series, Angela and Barrie were joined by Mike Dornan and Judith Jackson, along with Noel Edmonds. Each week we saw Noel Edmonds test several new cars, including his very own Ford GT40.
In 1980 Noel Edmonds replaced Angela Rippon as the main presenter. Back in the early years of Top Gear, the show didn’t criticise cars as it does now, but when Noel commented that the Fiat Strada “wasn’t very good” it upset Fiat and they threatened to sue the BBC! Noel stopped presenting later that same year, but he’d already gained fame from his time at Top Gear and went on to present numerous shows, including Noel’s House Party and Deal Or No Deal.
The 80s saw several presenters and co-presenters: Judith Jackson, Sue Baker, Frank Page, Chris Goffey, William Woollard, Tom Boswell, Peter Burgess, Russell Bray, Malcolm Wilson, Tony Mason, Tiff Needell, Jon Bentley, Beki Adam and Jeremy Clarkson.
During the late 80s the show received repeated threats from the network to cancel the programme because of low viewing numbers. To increase the appeal to the audience we saw the show begin to cover more motoring topics and events, including the British Motor Show and the Lombard RAC Rally. With these changes we saw the well-known presenters Sue Baker and former F1 driver Tiff Needell take to our screens. Sue Baker presented at least 100 episodes between 1980 and 1991, and stayed in the industry for decades as a successful motoring journalist. Sadly Sue passed away in 2022 at the age of 75 with motor neurone disease.
Towards the end of 1988, Jeremy Clarkson, a columnist from Performance Car Magazine, became the face of Top Gear, bringing viewing ratings from a hundred thousand to millions!
During the 90s, the most famous host, Jeremy Clarkson, was joined by many of Top Gear’s most popular presenters, including national treasure Quentin Willson, Steve Berry, Michele Newman, Vicki Butler-Henderson, Julia Bradbury, Kate Humble, and James May.
The soaring viewing ratings made Top Gear one of the most watched shows on TV. The programme’s growing influence meant Top Gear was high on vehicle manufactures’ agendas – with executives conscious that negative reviews from the show could have a severe effect on sales.
Despite an exciting start to the decade, as the 90’s progressed, the show is said to have lost its vibrancy – moving away from the more entertaining, fast-paced format it had developed previously. A significant decline in the programme’s popularity was cemented in 1999, when Jeremy Clarkson left the show saying the format and content were dull. Viewing ratings took another hit!
After several presenters in the first couple of years of the decade, the show was cancelled in the latter half of 2001 because of the dwindling viewer numbers since Clarkson’s departure. Tiff Needell, who had been with the show since 1987, and Vicki Butler-Henderson, who was a presenter with Top Gear from 1994, launched a new motoring show called Fifth Gear.
Photo Credit: Peter Tarry – The Sunday Times
Tiff Needell has remained very popular amongst the motoring community – still writing for numerous car magazines. Our claim to fame is that he has also been a customer of CarTakeBack UK! Vicki Butler-Henderson has had a prominent position in the motor industry since her start as a racing instructor and still presents and writes. We were thrilled when she was able to give us advice on selling your old car!
After the first series of Fifth Gear, the BBC decided to relaunch Top Gear in 2002 – only months after it had been cancelled. Set in a studio, with a fresh format, Jeremy Clarkson returned along with new presenters Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe on RTÉ Two. Jason was soon replaced by James May, and viewers enjoyed a decade of incredibly successful series, making Top Gear one of the BBC’s longest running flagship shows.
Photo Credit: BBC
It was this iconic trio that visited Ireland with their Top Gear Live show. Dublin played host to the first Top Gear tour in November 2008 at the RDS Simmonscourt. They had such a good reception from the Irish audience, Clarkson, Hammond and May returned to the RDS in December 2009, and back to Ireland for a third consecutive year in November 2010, but this time at the Convention Centre Dublin at Citywest. Top Gear fans saw everything from ‘car football’, chariot racing and even high-speed stunts from the legendary Stig!
Photo Credit: Top Gear Live Tour
Top Gear went from strength to strength, with regular use of Dunsfold Aerodrome, which they used as a test track for the famous, silent racing driver – The Stig.
In 2013, after several series packed with destructions, stunts, and races around the world, the programme received a Guinness World Record for the world’s most widely watched factual TV programme.
Arguably still at its peak, in 2015, Top Gear hit the headlines in a very different way …An altercation with a producer resulted in Clarkson being suspended. In March 2015 the BBC announced it would not renew its contract with Clarkson and Richard Hammond and James May both left – refusing to carry on with the programme without him. In June of that year, the final Top Gear episode featuring the show’s most popular trio aired. Only a month later, Amazon Prime announced the trio had signed to create a new car show… The Grand Tour, which premiered in November 2016.
After 15 years with Clarkson, May and Hammond running the show, in 2016, the new line-up of Top Gear presenters were revealed: Chris Evans, Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, Rory Reid, Sabine Schmitz, and Eddie Jordan, plus The Stig, of course.
Photo Credit: BBC
The first series suffered low viewer ratings, and Chris Evans, despite being a great presenter and huge car enthusiast, left the show. Chris’ exit led to the American Actor, Matt LeBlanc – most famous for playing Joey in the US Sitcom Friends – becoming the first non-British main presenter of Top Gear. While Matt was hugely popular, after series 26, which aired in early 2019, he left Top Gear to spend more time with his family.
Patrick Holland, Controller for BBC Two, said:
“I want to thank the fabulous Matt LeBlanc for being a brilliant co-host on Top Gear. Matt has thrown himself into the show with real passion, revealing his extraordinary car knowledge and a willingness to get down and dirty. We were always going to be borrowing him from his day job as one of the top comic actors in Hollywood so I wish him all the very best. The next series of Top Gear (Matt’s last) promises to be something very special and we have great plans to welcome a new co-host to join the team for 2019 and beyond.”
Series 27 saw cricket legend Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff, and TV presenter Paddy McGuinness, join Chris Harris at the helm. While neither Freddie nor Paddy had any professional automotive links, as massive car enthusiasts and natural presenters with a huge sense of fun, they refreshed the programme and soaring viewing figures quickly followed.
Photo Credit: BBC
This new dynamic trio had a supporting presenter in stalwart of the show and driving legend, Sabine Schmitz, who had been part of the Top Gear presenting family in various roles since 2004. Sabine tragically passed away from cancer in March 2021, aged 51. Top Gear presenters past and present united for a special programme to pay tribute to The Queen of the Nürburgring.
Photo Credit: BBC
Alex Renton, co-Executive Producer on Top Gear said:
“Sabine was part of Top Gear for over 15 years and it was no surprise that so many people who had worked with her over that period dropped everything to be a part of this tribute. She was so loved and will be greatly missed by us all.”
Sabine was part of the show when the COVID pandemic hit. The success of the new presenting team meant the production team found ways to safely keep filming. By using a larger studio and temporarily dropping popular segments such as ‘star in a reasonably priced car’ to maintain social distancing, the new dream team managed to complete series 31.
After navigating the difficult loss of Sabine and maintaining production throughout Covid, it seemed the show had managed to find its most stable and popular rhythm since the Clarkon-Hammond-May era. The chemistry between this comedian, cricketer, and car journalist had given the format a new dynamic, with the antics and trips seeming to get bigger and better every episode and average viewing figures at a huge 4.5 million.
However, it was the popular high-octane nature of the show that led to its most difficult chapter…
In December 2022, Freddie Flintoff was involved in a serious high-speed crash at the Dunsfold test track while driving an open-top Morgan Super 3. The accident resulted in severe facial injuries and long-term physical and emotional trauma for the presenter. In November 2023, following a safety review and a reported £9 million settlement with Flintoff, the BBC announced they would be ‘resting’ the show for the foreseeable future. Production on Series 34 was obviously scrapped, and the show entered an indefinite hiatus.
In 2025, Freddie Flintoff shared his recovery journey in the moving documentary ‘Flintoff’, which is still available to watch on Disney+.
While many Top Gear fans accepted the end of the show following Flintoff’s devastating accident, the car world has been buzzing with rumours that the ‘rest’ might be over.
Jeremy Clarkson sent fans into a frenzy with a cryptic social media post stating, “It will be back in May” leading to intense speculation about a reunion with Hammond and May. Also, while the BBC has not officially confirmed a new series, industry insiders have suggested that a 50th-anniversary special, or even a total reboot with a fresh ‘heritage’ angle is being discussed.
For now, Top Gear lives on through its magazine, website, re-runs on RTÉ Player, using VPN or of course just scouring You Tube where you can have fun finding your favourite era and moments with the presenters and formats you enjoyed the most!
