Hello CT. My name is Richard Porter and I was the script editor on Top Gear. Ask me anything.

28 Oct 2015

After working on the show for 13 years, 22 series and 175 programmes, there’s quite a lot I can tell you about Top Gear. I know whose idea it was to get a dog, I was there when we got threatened by drug barons in Bolivia, I can give you the real story of that Porsche number plate. I’ve put all these things in my new book, but you can ask me about them anyway. Or something else. Up to you. I’m here all night. Try the soup in a basket.

Comments

Love Sniff Petrol (think I discovered it through CarThottle). Preordered your book and working through it slowly (love if). Not sure if this has been asked, but are you going to be working on the new Amazon show? :D

Thanks for buying the book. Haven’t decided what I’m doing next. Might become a mime artist.

Am I losing the plot or was there a different person playing James May in the first series of the new format? If that is the case are they now kicking themselves for leaving the show or was it a decision to replace him with captain slow?

No, that was James. For series 2 we changed his name and made him lose weight and become more slow and less Cornish.

Did you contribute to the writing of Top Gear ground force? Because that was hilarious.

Yes. That was a fun shoot. I was one of the ‘workmen’. We made quite a mess.

Did you take the crew Rovers to the north Pole or was it only the Toyotas that could make it? Were there ever any tense moments for the rovers? Like on the Cliffside road that Jeremy almost fell off?

Whats youre opinion on libert walk? :p

In your opinion, what was the worst TG episode?

I never much liked the India Special. Or that one with The Sweeney in it. Because it had The Sweeney in it.

What was the highest number of laps needed by a given star to post a time on the board (without going off in the second-to-last corner or elsewhere)? Has anyone posted their fastest time on the very first lap? Have the crew ever had to hang around and wait because a star was having such a great time that they wouldn’t get out of the Liana/Lacetti/Cee’d?

We tried to limit them but yes, a lot of stars didn’t want to stop, especially the competitive ones like Jay Kay and Cowell.

I think I have watched every show on bbc2 then again on Dave but they don’t seem to show the one where they did the overnight road repairs (or the very first series of the new format) are there problems with them that means they can’t be repeated. One of the funniest moments was when they steamrollered the chips.

It’s the same episode as Richard’s comeback and the footage of his crash. It was decided that this should never be repeated as it’s not right to simply replay this moment over and over on re-runs.