TopGear Filming

[Dr Interceptor]

Bit of a rant really, but if you don't want to read it all, the upshot is if you're lucky enough to get tickets to watch TopGear being filmed, best rock up a couple of hours early, or camp at Dunsfold overnight to actually stand a chance of getting in.



So I got the above ticket, to watch the filming yesterday. Invited three friends to join me, one of which had a trek half way across the country and an overnight hotel stop to be there. Arrived at the correct gate with two cars in convoy at around 12.40 all excited, only to be turned away. The filming was full.

Now I've been to watch TopGear being filmed before, back in the Clarkson days. They used to have 150-200 people, and would move them around the studio for each segment so the area behind the camera was always looking full.

Now, they have a capacity of 570 people, and farm out the distribution of tickets to an outfit called 'Lost in TV'. To guarantee a full studio, they issue probably 25% more tickets than what they actually have capacity for, and then just turn people away once they're full.

The chap in front of me in the queue had driven four hours from Leeds in his Noble M12, only to just be turned around and refused entry. There were probably another 100 cars arrived after us, so potentially another 200 people that were just turned away.

A bit pissed off, we went in The Three Compasses for a pint (right next to the gate), the landlord there said last week a couple had travelled all the way from France, only to be denied access.

I know that we don't pay for the tickets, but we do organise our lives around being there when we get tickets, and incur some expense in getting there (especially that chap from Leeds in his Noble).

So that's it really. st rant I know, no swearing. But if you get tickets, rock up a couple of hours early, or you won't get in. The BBC, Lost in TV, and the TopGear production crew don't give a st how far you've travelled to be there.

[Dr Interceptor]

joshleb said:

Did they not give you priority to next weeks filming?

I've been to a few filmings of comedy and panel shows, and they over-ticket it, but if you can't get in, you get a prioity pass for next weeks one.

Haven't been offered anything, was just turned around and sent away.

Problem is, they let you chose the date you want to attend, and I picked that date for a reason. Next week is 75MM at Goodwood, weekend after that I'm on a stand at the Volksworld show, weekend after that I'm in Yorkshire. I picked that date, got the tickets on the 15th Feb, and organised everything around that date.

Not sure that chap from Leeds will want to make the eight hour round trip next weekend as well.

[Dr Interceptor]

DanielSan said:

They state on the website this is the case, they even say get there early.

Does it? Http://lostintv.com/tv-show?id=842

I can only see an option to apply for tickets. I don't see where it says "We issue more tickets than we actually have space for, and entry is first come first served, so best rock up two hours early."

[Dr Interceptor]

Alex said:

Phew. We arrived at 12:35 and were granted access. Looks like we were close to missing out (although my wife would have been secretly pleased...), and we only live round the corner.

The organisation could do with some improvement. Once in, we had to wait on the runway for two hours, in the rain, with only a burger van and a portaloo, before the studio was ready for us.

Filming finished at 7pm, so that's a long time standing. Lots of queueing: for the burger van, for the toilet, for the shuttle bus, to enter the studio, for a coffee during the break, for the shuttle bus home...

Having said that, it was good fun and the Australian warm-up guy was funny and kept the audience in good spirits.

At the end, MLB disappeared, but Harris shouted thanks to everyone for coming. I think a quick hand-shake and autograph session would have gone down very well with the audience.

Gutted we were so close to getting in, but sounds like we swerved a long day out then! In truth it wasn't so bad for us, I'm in Farnborough, so 45 mins away, so the worst it did was take two hours out of my life. My friend though travelled a fair distance and had a hotel stop.

You can imagine some people though going through the ball ache of arranging pet care, or child care, booking accommodation, fuel, possibly even flights, only to be turned away if they aren't there early enough.

Definition of a ticket: "a piece of paper or card that gives the holder a certain right, especially to enter a place, travel by public transport, or participate in an event."

If they want to continue with what they're doing, they should issue vouchers, which clearly state they can be exchanged for a ticket on the gate on a first come first served basis.

[Dr Interceptor]

Shakermaker said:

it clearly stated that you might not get entry even if you had all the tickets etc.

I have spoken to Lost in TV this morning, and they rely on the fact that the ticket says on the small print "Ticket does not guarantee you entry".

I just thought all tickets (even paid for ones) said that in case the show didn't go on for any reason (singer/artist being ill etc).

[Dr Interceptor]

V1DL3R said:

I was the guy in the Noble. I was pretty ticked off. Considering the email I had said "doors open at 1" - black and white. I get why they do it but it was 100s of cars which got turned away. Forget the 8 hours of driving, forget the overnight boarding kennels booked for my dog, forget the £100s of fuel what really annoyed me was no one cared. No one cared about making the system better. No one was keeping a record of the number of cars being turned away. This means they do not have an accurate way of defining a drop out rate. This will not allow theme to model how many tickets should be issued in order to forcast number of tickets to issue in future and minimise the loss for people. It a real shame that they just don't have any desire to care more about people's time. The people who have been watching and supporting the show since they were 5 (yep do the maths if you wish). It leaves a bad taste in the mouth when you give more to the show than your eyeballs and it's so selfishly managed.

Edited by V1DL3R on Monday 13th March 13:11

I was in the red JCW convertible, parked next to you at the pub - my mates were in the black Z4.

As far as I was concerned, and clearly you as well, we were there in good time and agree with your sentiments.

Nice car by the way

[Dr Interceptor]

ChrisDT said:

No, about £4.80 I think for a Cheese burger. Food truck was cool though!

That wouldn't be why they left you outside for ages at all then........

[Dr Interceptor]

redlancer said:

I've got tickets for 5th April but on mine it states
"Premium Entry You are GUARANTEED entry until 12:30pm" so is a different tciekt to the OP's
I only applied for 2 tickets. Or could it be I applied early?

Still going to get there early.

Not bothered about being on TV we'd just love to see the making off it.

They're the ones they issue you with if you get turned away from one. Lucky to get them first time around.

[Dr Interceptor]

bodhi said:

One question that arose whilst watching the latest episode is - have they done away with the equal numbers of each sex rule? It did look very male heavy last night....

They ask you the question when you register whether or not you are a mixed party, and I guess they pick people based on that.

In the old days, Clarkson used to look at the audience and pull all the cute girls to the front, so old episodes always looked there were plenty of girls there.