Andy Wilman, Top Gear’s executive producer, has a blog post up now which talks about the upcoming 7 episode season of Top Gear.

As you may or may not have heard, there are currently some controversial laws being implemented in the UK:

State-funded organisations are being ordered to boost the proportion of female, black and gay staff to reflect the make-up of the UK population under plans unveiled by Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman.

This could potentially mean that Top Gear would have to introduce a female host as the law doesn’t have an exclusion for broadcasters. Top Gear’s executive producer Andy Wilman wrote his opinions about that particular potential change in a recent blog post:

I also do believe that this sort of claptrap is very patronising to women, because it assumes women can’t enjoy a show’s presenters on merit, but can only appreciate a programme if spoken to by one of their own sex.

His post in full is worth a read.

Andy Wilman, the executive producer of Top Gear, has blogged about this past year, FinalGear.com, and the budget cut facing them for 2009 and what they’re going to do about it.

[...] personally I think the Summer run was patchy – didn’t find its feet until the Shit Alfas film in show 3, but rocked from then on – I mean Japan, TG versus the Germans – quality stuff there. As for this just finished Autumn run, I was crapping myself going into it cos we only had eight weeks to prepare, but in the end I’m very happy with it.

I think Star in a Car found its feet again after the less than successful “Two at a Time” experiment. All it takes is good guests really, and people of Boris’s calibre are just that. So we’ll continue SIARPC in this vein for a while (probably should change the car though) and I know that will annoy some of the Final Gearheads, but lads, we can’t make all of this show for you, and whilst I am genuinely interested to know what a 19 year old Skyline fanatic in Oregon thinks of the Japan race, at the end of the day I’m not that bothered about his opinion on Harry Enfield.

Make sure to read the full article for the rest.

Andy Wilman, the executive producer of Top Gear, has written a blog post about the upcoming 75-minute Vietnam special airing this Sunday. No major spoilers or anything and it’s well worth the read. He talks about why it has an extra 15 minutes and what kind of show to look forward to.

Oh, and don’t worry, we’ll be having plenty of “bits and torrents” this Sunday. ;)

Apologies for the lack of non-release related news posts lately. Other things have been taking up all of my time.

So anyway, Andy Wilman, the executive producer of Top Gear, has written a new blog post on this season of Top Gear as a whole. He talks about the past episodes as well as what’s to come. He also mentions (and links!) to us as well as the obsessed girls over at Hammond Heaven.

His post is well worth a read and I highly recommend you read it.

Thanks to all who sent in tips.

During the filming of the American version of Top Gear on Saturday, a few of our forum members got to chat with Andy Wilman. While we already knew that the British version of Top Gear would be back in October, Andy revealed that it would have 8 episodes and that they are looking to do 14 episodes per year to avoid running out of ideas and such.

He also mentioned that while they hadn’t gotten the Top Gear Stuntman right, he would be returning in future episodes.

You can read more about what Andy talked about in MadeBackwards’ thread and buried throughout the tickets thread on our forums.

Andy’s latest blog post came out this morning and besides talking about this coming Sunday’s episode, he made sure to correct all of the conspiracy nuts on our forums.

He starts by addressing the people who posted in our episode discussion thread for last Sunday’s episode complaining that the Diahatsu Terios’ exhaust sound was dubbed over with sounds from a V8:

Firstly, if the boys on Final Gear are reading this – WE DID NOT DUB A BLOODY V8 ON THE DAIHATSU TERIOS. Promise, chaps.

We like to do our best with the Jerry Bruckheimer noises, but we have our standards, and one of those standards is to not upset car dweebs – we like them too much.

I asked the director the same question about the engine when I saw the first cut of the film and he said you can hear the V8 camera car in the background, but the Terios still makes its own rorty little sound.

He also addresses the people who were concerned that we might be being weened off James May since there hasn’t been too much of him this season.

Secondly, if Final Gear boys are still tuned in, one of you wrote a couple of weeks ago that James hadn’t been in the series much, and that we therefore must be grooming the viewers for him leaving. Pleeeeeese. Go and put that fertile conspiracy theory brain of yours to better use. Find out if Kennedy was shot in Dallas, or during a faked moon landing.

I think you’re right, there’s not been enough James and Richard solo films this run – it’s a bit of a Rubik’s Cube putting a show together and that’s the way the cards have fallen. Hopefully we’ll sort it in the next series, but no, James isn’t going. He’ll go when he gets grumpy and fed up with the show, and to my memory he’s been grumpy and fed up with the show since the day he started.

He finishes by talking about this coming Sunday’s episode, but I’ll let you read the details of that for yourself to avoid spoilers.

Andy talked about it earlier today as well, but now Jeremy has weighed in on the whole staged-or-real questions that always pop-up about the big races that they do.

During our race to Oslo, the poor cameraman in the back of the tracking car had to pee in a bottle. We do not stop.

In the Ferrari versus plane race to Verbier, I actually overtook the tracking car, leaving me with nothing but the on board mini cams. I was that desperate to get there first.

And we get back to be accused of fakery by some internet dweeb. It makes my effing teeth itch with rage.

Of course, once the race is run and the result in the bag, the camera crews stay behind to pick up the shots needed to make the whole thing work on television. The details. The icing. But that doesn’t affect the outcome.

And apparently Sunday’s race is “the best film we’ve ever made.” Sunday cannot get here quick enough.

Just incase you were living under some rock, there will be a big race this Sunday. Andy talks about it in his latest blog post:

[...] we’re all excited because we’ve got one of our big races to show you.

Now the last time we did one was a couple of years ago with the Veyron against the plane, and to be honest it wasn’t the film it could have been because it all got a bit silly side up – too big and overblown – and it didn’t have the purity of the run to Verbier or Monaco.

Anyway, we shelved the whole idea of big races until we could think of another one that made sense, and then this year Nissan very kindly decide to launch the GT-R, and the clouds parted.

Sunday’s episode should be epic.

A bunch of what are essentially gossip magazines in the UK have been reporting that Richard and James are threatening to leave the show if they don’t get a pay raise to match Jeremy’s pay. Unsurprisingly this is all a load of BS.

Andy does a good job of explaining the whole situation in his latest blog post:

Just for the record, Richard and James’s contracts are up soon – no big deal, contracts do end – and their agents are negotiating new ones.

They want an amount, the BBC wants to pay a different amount – again, no surprises there, that’s how business works every minute of every day – and there’ll be horse trading until a number is reached.

But let me also say Richard and James have never ever ever asked to be on equal pay to Jeremy. They are the first to admit that he came up with the new show, and that he does nothing but this show and is the engine room of it, whereas they, quite understandably, like to do other projects as well as Top Gear, and therefore the pay should reflect that.

He talks more about it as well as Sunday’s show, but I’ll let you read the rest of his post yourself.