‘Still up for conversation re Top Gear?’ What a text!
THE text pinged up on the screen of my battered BlackBerry at 4.07pm on Thursday, June 11 – the day before I was due to resurrect my cult 1990s show TFI Friday live on Channel 4 for a 90-minute special.
TFI Friday was the most fun I never had on television, flying by the seat of our pants until it came crashing down around our ears. I always said I’d never bring it back, until Channel 4 requested a one-off anniversary special. No pressure – and all the fun we forgot to have back in the day.
I was at my house with Will MacDonald, my pal and old TFI sidekick. Two TV nerds taking great joy in intricately putting together a running order, changing a word here, a camera shot there, to build to a moment. Then the text message came that may have changed my life for ever. It’s from Mark Linsey, controller of entertainment commissioning for BBC Television: ‘Are you still up for a conversation re Top Gear? If so, please call me.’
An explosion went off in my head. Of course I am up for a conversation re Top Gear. I excuse myself and try to remain calm. I want to scream but I can’t. I call Mark, who tells me the BBC had left the door open for James May and Richard Hammond to continue without Jeremy Clarkson, but they had chosen not to.
Mark says: ‘We want to give the show to you. You can do anything with it you see fit. Complete creative control. You pick the production team, the presentation team, everything. We want you, your vision, your production experience, as well as being the face of the whole shooting match.’
Oh my good God. I can’t believe I’m being asked to take over my favourite television show.
‘You all right?’ asks Will as I walk back into the living room. ‘No, not really,’ I reply. ‘What’s the matter?’
I have to tell him. I’m so obviously in shock, it’s clear something major has happened.
What followed was the most unpredictable 72 hours I’ve ever experienced. I never imagined I would end up sitting outside a pub three days later as the news of my Top Gear appointment was posted on Twitter. Nor did I imagine that I would end up writing, producing and presenting TFI Friday and Top Gear as well as hosting my daily Radio 2 show...
FRIDAY, JUNE 12
I GO to New Broadcasting House to meet Mark Linsey. This may well be the maddest day of my life so far.
Mark’s demeanour towards me has warmed over the years – let’s face it, I wasn’t the safest pair of hands for a good while.
Today, when I walk into the room and hold out my hand, he comes in for the full-on man hug. He may actually be more excited than me. I tell Mark what I think could and should be done with the biggest brand the BBC has. The more I talk, the more his smile broadens. I’m obviously saying the right things.
‘Days like this are what it’s all about,’ he enthuses. ‘Let’s just do a deal and make the show.’
I couldn’t agree more. I have only two conditions: Full creative control and a minimum of three years’ commitment. This will tell me the BBC is completely behind me. I leave the negotiations to my agent. By 1.30pm, I’m at the studio. Nothing else matters. Cue TFI Friday.
SUNDAY, JUNE 14
TFI was a tremendous success with more than four million viewers – far bigger than the first time round and Channel 4 want to commission a series – but I have no idea how the Top Gear talks are progressing.
My agent Michael tells me negotiations have been continuing all weekend and that all sides want to announce before it leaks out.
He has also heard from Jay Hunt at Channel 4, who spookily said she would like a TFI Friday series ‘pending what might be happening with Chris and Top Gear’.
‘Do you think she knows?’ Michael asks. We decide it’ll be best if I call Jay. Straight is the only way to be.
I call and tell her what’s happening. She replies: ‘Not ideal, but as long as the two don’t run concurrently, we’d like to do an initial series of eight TFI Fridays in the run-up to Christmas.’ What’s not to like?
MONDAY, JUNE 15
TIME to refocus and get the Top Gear deal signed and announced.
I’m called in to meet BBC2 controller Kim Shillinglaw, Adam Waddell who runs Top Gear at BBC Worldwide, and Mark Linsey. They need to make sure I’m the man for the job.
I have never been more serious about anything in my life.
My initial overview is simple. There are two ways of looking at Top Gear: As fragile and vulnerable because of the shock departure of the Three Amigos or as an unexploded bomb perfectly primed for detonation.
I’m looking at it from the point of view of Scenario B and I absolutely believe it.
In my opinion, Top Gear right now is like the old League Division One before it became the Premiership, a stellar multi-billion-pound franchise.
For a start, where is Top Gear World, the theme park? People would come from the four corners of the planet to stay. If the show was filmed at Top Gear World, fans could win tickets to be in the audience.
Then there is the format, which has morphed into little more than three films and four links.
And the big one for me: Why hasn’t it ever been live? That would give it a kick up the backside.
Sure, you lose the ability to edit, but you gain so much more.
The script has to be tighter and there’s no way the viewers can be sure of what’s going to happen. No one is sure. That’s the joy of it.
I’ve come with a list of issues I think we can overcome, with the emphasis on evolution, not revolution.
The meeting ends and we agree to close the deal as soon as possible.
TUESDAY, JUNE 16
TODAY is the day. Usual routine for me: Jog to work, grab papers and coffee, read brief from my producer, go to loo, start radio show and see what happens.
In the afternoon, as a friend is due to come round for a catch-up, a text pings in from my agent. DEAL DONE. GOING FOR 7.15pm ANNOUNCEMENT. GET READY. THIS IS IT.
Cut to 5pm outside my local on one of the creaky wooden tables in the sunshine with two ice-cold pints of Guinness. ‘So what’s going on with you?’ my friend asks. It is now two hours until the BBC2 tweet will tell the world, but I can’t tell him. I don’t want to jinx it.
I’ve never felt this way before. This is the biggest deal I have ever been involved in. Why? Because it’s not about money, it’s about the opportunity and the faith the BBC has put in me. It doesn’t get any bigger.
It’s clear my friend senses something is up and is going to leave me to it, when I blurt out: ‘ You can’t go. I need someone here... The Beeb have asked me to do Top Gear and they’re going to announce it at 7.15pm. Please stay until they do.’
The first thing he asks is: ‘Do the boys know?’ – meaning Jeremy, James, Richard and Andy Wilman, the TG producer. It always pays to do the right thing, so at 7.05pm, I send the same text to each of them: ‘Been offered Top Gear. Have said Yes. Hope that’s cool.’
Within moments, Wilman and Clarkson respond, wishing me luck. My phone rings: it’s James May. All good. I can only imagine how surreal this must seem to them. I look down at my BlackBerry. It reads 7.14. Seconds later, it begins to buzz and doesn’t stop.
© Chris Evans, 2015
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‘Deals don’t get any bigger than this’