Top Gear Audience - any advice?

Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Monday 15th January 2018
quotequote all
Out of the blue (I'd forgotten I'd even applied) I've bagged 2 x 'Priority Tickets' to see Top Gear being filmed next week.

They claim to guarantee entry before 12.30pm but I read some older posts that it can be a bit of a lottery as to if you get in or no despite turning up on time.

Does anybody have any advice they can share if they've been to any recent recordings? How does the day pan out etc?

Thanks in advance.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Monday 15th January 2018
quotequote all
Defo priority tickets - it’s printed on them and says guaranteed entry before 12.30... but the snall print says entry isn’t guaranteed, so who knows?!

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
That’s when we’re planning to arrive. If you spot a dark blue Countach... that’s not us. We’re n a bmw diesel estate.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Tuesday 23rd January 2018
quotequote all
Today was the day of filming for the first episode of the new series.

Nothing of any major interest to report back other than we came away feeling a bit sorry for Rory. If you've watched the show and got the impression that he is slightly extraneous then that feeling wouldn't have been quashed by being in the audience. The other two have a rapport and chemistry and unfortunately he doesn't seem to share it. Maybe it's down to experience and age, who knows?

He's a capable presenter and driver but he needs room to grow, away from the shadow of Harris and Le Blanc. Give him Extra Gear and if you must have a third person in the main show they could do a lot worse than Jensen Button.

Full disclosure; I am not a producer nor do I have the faintest idea about presenting or how hard it is to make a TV show.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Wednesday 24th January 2018
quotequote all
We were there too, and agree. Poor bloke got barely ten lines of script the whole day.
I'll be surprised if he bothers to come back for Series 26.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Wednesday 24th January 2018
quotequote all
Without giving too much away about this episode, if Dr Stephen Hawkin was really as clever as he claims to be then he’d have used some of his math skills to work out the correct apex points etc. His lap time was shocking.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Wednesday 24th January 2018
quotequote all
Europa1 said:
Other thoughts on the day:
- wear more comfortable shoes! My feet were killing me at the end of the day. My back was killing as well, but that's my fault for being an office based softie - it's not often I spend 5 hours standing up.
- drink loads of fluids beforehand. It was a long afternoon and both of us were gasping by the end.
- the studio is a lot smaller than it looks on TV!
- why do a small minority find it so hard to grasp the "no large branding/logos" on your clothing wording on the ticket? A couplf of blokes in big logo-ed hoodies, but especially tragic were eg a Ferrari rollneck. Ummmm, you're on Top Gear - I think we can guess you are a motoring enthusiast.
I didn't want to say anything but err.....yeah, the audience were, in what might appear to be a staggeringly ungrateful-for-a-free-ticket view, poorly looked after.
Five to six hours...no water, no toilets, no breaks at all.
Yes it's all about MLB and team, yes studio time is precious and yes I know the audience is essentially a walking talking set.
But really? Not even fifteen minutes after the first two hours? The only previous occasion I've been in the audience was in the CHM heyday, and there was a full 30 minute break for cast, audience and crew where everyone got to stretch their legs, have a brew and (if lucky) get a selfie with Jezzer.
I suspect the budget has been slashed and the producers now have to rely heavily on the "You're on Top Gear, what else d'you want?"
Oh, Mrs CFK did win a Kit Kat in the warm-up guy's TG quiz so it's not all bad.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Wednesday 24th January 2018
quotequote all
DrSteveBrule said:
Without giving too much away about this episode, if Dr Stephen Hawkin was really as clever as he claims to be then he’d have used some of his math skills to work out the correct apex points etc. His lap time was shocking.
I can't believe what they're classing as a "reasonably fast car" for this series either.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Wednesday 24th January 2018
quotequote all
Crossflow Kid said:
DrSteveBrule said:
Without giving too much away about this episode, if Dr Stephen Hawkin was really as clever as he claims to be then he’d have used some of his math skills to work out the correct apex points etc. His lap time was shocking.
I can't believe what they're classing as a "reasonably fast car" for this series either.
The Renault Kangoo? I think that might have been brought in especially for Hawkin's lap.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
ThunderSpook said:
What did they do on Tuesday? I’ve just got back from today and they shot two shows which they said they don’t usually do, also said they were reshooting some bits from Tuesday. I’m presuming Tuesday was the guest for the second show we saw, in which case I’m surprised it was still a 6 hour day for you. The bus driver seemed to suggest there were less than half the number of people there on Tuesday as today.
Without wanting to spoil things for others Tuesday was a trip across Nevada in 3 new V8 supercars, and a panel show host and comedian (who has been on before) as the guest for the lap. That was a dull interview.

I think that was it – I can't remember much else and I was surprised at how little was filmed as there seems to be more content when watching it at home.
Ushered in at about 12.45, filming started just before 2 and we were walking out the doors at 4.30.

One of the team said there were about 400 of us in there.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Thursday 25th January 2018
quotequote all
I wonder if Tuesday was regarded as part-recording, part-dress rehearsal bearing in mine theyve not been in front of an audience for a year.
It did seem very dull in places with some odd scripting, and the guest interview was utter nonsense.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Friday 26th January 2018
quotequote all
ThunderSpook said:
Ah ok, they’re shooting things on strange orders then because the 2 shows we did yesterday were nothing to do with that one. We were in about 13:0 and didn’t leave until 19:30 though, which was knackerinh. We had one break at about 18:30 while they changed cars to do the second show. Sounds like normally you wouldn’t get a break then.

It’s an awful lot of clap monkey clap.
If MLB was at some point wearing a white shirt with a dark red / maroon college/bomber style jacket over the top then they may well have been filming extra bits from Tuesday.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Friday 26th January 2018
quotequote all
jas xjr said:
did it not used to be the case that places / tickets were booked for years in advance ?
As I said in the first post of this thread I applied so long ago I'd totally forgotten about it when the tickets came through unexpectedly. A week later I've applied for – and received – 2 more tickets and it took 15 minutes at the most.

Says a lot about the popularity of the show.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

56 months

Tuesday 13th March 2018
quotequote all
ikke9000gent said:
Hi Steve,

I'm having priority tickets (I'm not a UK resident, but willing to make the trip as it's just my birthday for that recording day), but I'm starting to have doubts....
I watched yesterday and it was all filmed ahead (Japan trip) and they switched 3-4 times to the studio for a brief talk. If that's it... than I wonder why I would travel 5,5 hours to there and back. Or do they also foresee other interactions?

Regards,
Ikke
There's not a lot of interaction in the studio to be honest. Both times I've been, most of the time was spent watching the pre-recorded sections. I only went twice as I had two mates who wanted to go. I wouldn't have been overly impressed if I had to travel over 5 hours to see it.

You're not missing much but if you are keen you are to say you've been in the Top Gear audience then why not?