More than horsepower
Terribly sad news yesterday that Richard Hammond from the BBC’s Top Gear TV show – shown on SBS here – is in hospital following a serious crash whilst filming for the show.
Now I do have a passing interest in cars, have done ever since I can remember – but I’m not a fanatic by any stretch. What the BBC did with Top Gear when it relaunched was just genius.
It gets away from the ‘reel off the features’ programming (it’s got a 4.8litre V8 with 17 valves and if you buy it now you get a free chamois), instead it gets to the heart of ‘benefits’ programming giving value to the viewer through content. It is beautifully shot, has really creative segments and features, great interaction between the presenters and the audience and is a joy to watch.
Testament to the fact that it is a remarkably good show is that my wife watches it and she has no interest in cars whatsoever. If you know her then you know what I mean.
It shows to me that, once again, creative content is the reason people watch. By taking a radical view on content, the BBC took a long-running show about cars and transformed it into a lifestyle show that delivers great ratings.
Also, if you are looking for an example of a spectacular clash of ‘how not to make a show about cars’ and ‘this advertiser funded programming is easy – just slap a logo on it’ then this goes straight to the top of the medal table in my book. Come on Nine…
Top Gear shows that by taking something that we all have (a car), dreaming up creative content, add a dash of passion with three great presenters, let the camera guys think outside of the norm and you’ve got a winner.
Looking forward to seeing Hammond back in the driving seat soon.
22 September 2006 at 1:49pm
Ruben, it’s a tragedy that Hammond was injured as seriously as he was – he comes across as such a likable fellow.
The buzz about this show is amazing. I know more women who watch it than men. It’s inherently British and there humour shines through strongly.
I don’t think an Australian production house/network could pull this off because of lack of access to the cars the Brits have.
10 October 2006 at 5:40pm
What’s the latest on Hammond? I don’t have a driver’s licence, so I think it’s safe to say I have even less interest in cars than Tamsin, but even I know who Hammond is – someone in the right job, by all accounts. I wonder, Ruben, Peter, if it is really a question of the particular cars the Brits access for the show, or more the cultural confidence that’s on something of a comeback tour in Britain these days, and which Australia is so desperately lacking just now? They back themselves, their production, and, in the very first place, they back their viewer/consumer enough to know they will grasp the new format and embrace the improved content (whereas in Australia, the networks evidently take us for a nation of drooling fools). Ironically, part of Australia’s problem is the very high degree of imported TV content.
10 October 2006 at 7:15pm
Hammond is getting better by all counts. Doctors saying that he looks likely to be fully recovered in six months or so. A relative miracle apparently after paramedics had to dig his head out from upside down in the dirt to allow him to breath immediately after the crash and like the pro he is, apparently his first words were ‘let me do a piece to camera’. They didn’t of course and he was rushed to hospital with serious brain damage.
Anyway, sorry Pete, but I think the Di has it. I do take your point about access to cars but I think that ‘build it and they will come’ is a winning moniker when you’ve got no real competition, all the major vehicle brands represented and PR companies that will bite your hand off for TV coverage.
In addition, for those that have watched Top Gear – most of the best features are ones that don’t feature new cars but feature the three hosts spending $1000 on the best car they can and entering into a competition to make it go the fastest, drive it the furthest… well, you get the idea.
11 October 2006 at 8:17pm
I wish I could hear/read ‘build it and they will come’ just ONCE without seeing a Kevin Costner pop-up doll in my head…At least I finally seem to have managed to animate him, so now he looks like something from Team America: World Police… But anyway, yes, I think that motto would find a pretty welcoming home here in Australia, where anything with F grade (let’s face it, that’s all we’ve got) celebrities engaged in some activity put to music inexplicably seems to burst through the ratings roof…Granted, this says as much scary, scary stuff about Australians as it does about the networks, but there really doesn’t seem to be a lot of choice, especially not when you’re talking about Australian content. Appalling reality TV seems to have the run of the televised entertainment here. But then again, Rubes, your favourite part of Top Gear seems to be a reality segment, no?
I love Hammond’s urban myth-style first words. What a legend – and I guess that was the point of circulating the “quote.” Very canny.