A car that has been running for 46 years would either be deemed a classic, or branded unsafe. Top Gear, which at its peak would have aspired to the former, has finished as the latter, “Rested for the foreseeable future” by the BBC. This, it seems, is because the motoring series would struggle to meet duty of care or insurance requirements after one of its presenters, Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, was badly injured in a crash last December.
In a piece of showbiz synchronicity, Top Gear is stood down in the same week that its first presenter, Angela Rippon, was voted out of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. Rippon was perhaps an unlikely host for franchise’s opening series, which hints at the troubles one of TV’s longest-running shows has seen in its time. Although Top Gear is officially an April 1977 vehicle (R registration, for UK motor heads), the rubber only really hit the road from October 2002 (52 on a numberplate) until March 2015 (registrations including 15.)
