Top Gear duo slammed by BBC Trust

chris

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The BBC Trust, the clearly out-of-touch Mandarins who supervise the BBC, have come down heavily on one of the UK’s most popular programmes, Top Gear, for the “blatant use of alcohol” during a show.

Top Gear regularly tops the ratings on BBC2 and is sold around the world for its reviews of fast cars and frequent anarchic stunts of its presenters. It has a worldwide viewership of 200m. The day the UK’s indoor smoking ban came in, two of its star presenters immediately lit up, one a cigarette, the other his pipe.

But the show has now been accused of glamourising drink driving. As if the members of the BBC Trust have never enjoyed a drink! Or a restaurant meal with a drink, and then driven home. Or even a drink in the wood-panelled Board Room at Broadcasting House, where once red wine and Gin flowed like the Amazon.

Jeremy Clarkson and James May, two presenters (left and middle above), were criticised for an edition called the Polar Special where they had a gin and tonic while driving a Toyota pick-up en-route to the magnetic North Pole, in the process catching fellow-presenter Richard “The Hamster” Hammond who was doing the same trip in a dog-pulled sled.

The show’s executive producer told the Trust that the pair were neither drunk, nor out of control while driving across the deserted frozen wastes, hundreds of miles from anywhere. The BBC Trust ruled that younger viewers might regard the two as role models. While recognising that the G&T was a “comic device” the committee “did not think that the scenes of drinking while driving were editorially justified in the context of family entertainment."

We tend not to editorialise in these columns, but just for once we suggest that the BBC Trust get a life!

By the way, the two brave lads had to take a pee while on the trek, and this prompted one viewer to complain that the image showed “a frostbitten penis” to the nation’s young before the 9pm watershed. Instead of rejecting the idiot complaint for the time-wasting foolishness that it obviously was, the Trust said the fleeting image shown was not of a sexual nature, or used “voyeuristically” but shown for a “medical” rather than a sexual purpose. You can catch the penis sequence on YouTube-

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Source:RapidTVNews
 

2cvbloke

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Blimey, that took a long time for them to complain about!!! :-rofl2

And who really cares? They were in international waters, so they had the right to have a tipple at the wheel, they weren't under any form of jurisdiction so they could do that!!! I personally found it very funny and amusing, safe in the knowledge that the worst that could happen is they went round in circles!!! :-rofl2
 

chris

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2cvbloke said:
Blimey, that took a long time for them to complain about!!! :-rofl2

And who really cares? They were in international waters, so they had the right to have a tipple at the wheel, they weren't under any form of jurisdiction so they could do that!!! I personally found it very funny and amusing, safe in the knowledge that the worst that could happen is they went round in circles!!! :-rofl2

Maybe they have only just seen the repeat on dave :)
 

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Maybe the BBC Trust should stop them from driving so fast, as everyone knows speed kills? How about those wacky, "anarchic" stunts with caravans and demolition balls, as surely some child might try it?

And then watch the BBC whine about how nobody's watching the show anymore...
 

rolfw

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Have to confess that I don't watch it much, but it is great light hearted lads' TV and is made to be taken with a pinch of salt.
 

Topper

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rolfw said:
Have to confess that I don't watch it much, but it is great light hearted lads' TV and is made to be taken with a pinch of salt.

Followed by a glass of tequila and a fresh lemon slice mmmmmmm:-rofl2
 
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