Richard Porter (1)

A witty and interesting account of the Top Gear years from long-serving script editor Richard Porter. He was an integral part of the production of the show from its revamp in 2002 to its unfortunately abrupt and engineered ending in early 2015. Consequently, he is well-placed to comment on everything that happened during that time and he is opinionated enough to have strong views on stuff but amiable enough not to come across as grumpy or biased. His chapters are topical rather than show more chronological which means there's no room for chaff or padding, which significantly enhances the flow of the book. His writing style is rather funny and reminiscent of Jeremy Clarkson's style (for example, Ben Collins' outing as the Stig "couldn't have been more newsworthy if we'd glued it to Cheryl Cole's sideboob" (pg. 123)) but this shouldn't come as a surprise as Porter wrote a lot of the words that Clarkson and co. said on television.

All this made And on That Bombshell a delight to read, and makes you remember just how good the post-2002 Top Gear was. It made some truly spectacular, hilarious and thoughtful television that appealed to a remarkably varied amount of the population. It was one of the few TV shows that embodied everything the BBC should be – popular, imaginative, genuine – which makes it even more depressing that the suits were so keen to destroy it, like a host attacking a virus. With the 'new' Top Gear being released soon (although, let's face it, Top Gear is dead and only the 'brand' name (ugh) remains), it's bittersweet to remember all that the show was. The new one is created by a bunch of faceless BBC commissars who have finally fulfilled their eternal quest to have the show presented by a woman and an ethnic minority, and hosted by the professionally-zany Chris Evans to bring 'wackiness' and 'irreverence' and other buzzwords used in focus group agendas. What a damn shame. (Interestingly, the insufferably right-on chief exec who pursued his vendetta against Clarkson has now left for a higher-paid job in America, strangely still in demand despite sabotaging his employer's most lucrative and beneficial programme. What a champ.)

Porter is far more diplomatic on this subject than I am. Not only does he come down surprisingly hard on Clarkson's role in the death of Top Gear, but he also makes some respectable points about both the benefits and the niggly hindrances the BBC brought to the table. In a useful analogy, he dubs the BBC "the piece of grit in the Top Gear oyster that enabled pearls to be made" (pg. 232) and, to be sure, the love-hate dynamic with the corporation did make a telling contribution to the spirit of the show. It will be interesting to see how the dynamic with Amazon influences the new Clarkson, Hammond and May show, announced a few days ago as being titled The Grand Tour. What can be certain is that it will be a damn sight better than the zombie camel now trying to pass itself off as 'Top Gear'. And I hope Porter will be a part of it.

All in all, Porter has crafted a fine farewell to perhaps the most unique television program of our time (a better send-off than the BBC allowed Clarkson, who was banned from the studio and not allowed to film a final episode to the show he had a leading role in, garnering 350 million viewers for the BBC worldwide). Porter is funny and likeable, and in this memoir he manages to keep the obligatory gushing about what wonderful people he worked with down to a respectable minimum. He provides consistently interesting insights into the production, and I finished the book with just one unanswered question: Am I the only one who quite liked the India special? show less

I am a stark raving mad Top Gear / Clarkson, Hammond and May fan as evidenced in many previous reviews and blog posts. Well, perhaps not totally. I don’t own every single DVD and book, I find Top Gear magazine a bit boring and I haven’t seen every episode 10 times. I have however, run after Jeremy Clarkson (I couldn’t catch him – he’s tall and I’m not that fast in heels) and searched out Hammond (couldn’t find him in a crowded room, we’re about the same height). I have met show more James May who is delightful (and obviously easy to find for short girls in high heels). One other thing I do love is the Top Gear books for kids, which are usually crazily funny. They’re often written by a fellow by the name of Richard Porter, who was the script editor for Top Gear from the old days (i.e. pre Hammond and May) until the bitter end. When I saw this book, I knew I had to read it. I gulped this book down shortly after opening the parcel. It is THE book for the Top Gear fan. It contains titbits that will delight the hard-core fan (such as what happened to Top Gear Dog) and the person who just happens to hang around the TV when the show is on (what did happen to the cool wall?).

The story starts at the beginning when Top Gear was a UK ritual but on a small scale – it was a serious show with a revolving panel of presenters. Then enter some bloke called Jeremy Clarkson, who started to make things a bit more interesting. Then the show disappeared from screens, leaving the young Richard Porter without a job. He decided to start a motoring website that was tongue-in-cheek (Sniff Petrol, which is hilarious) and was later approached by Clarkson and Andy to help build a new Top Gear. The book then moves on to the first series of ‘new’ Top Gear, which was fraught with issues and dodgy BBC offices. The team aimed high and with some juggling, came back to start series 2 with a different third presenter called James May and the motoring programme went from good to bloody fantastic as we all know.

There is also background details on the ‘specials’ (yes, that number plate was an accident). I was surprised to read of Porter’s dislike for the India special, which I quite enjoyed (yes, it’s silly but it’s also very funny). How did they choose where to go? Well, you’ll just have to read to find out. Porter also questions whether Top Gear jumped the shark (this always seems to be topic of hotly contested debate on any of the forums) and gives examples where that might nearly have happened. He also explains how you can’t make any form of television that doesn’t have some form of script. Plus, there’s also how you call up companies and ask to borrow a car – it was very funny to see the different responses as the show progressed.

And on That Bombshell will delight all Top Gear fans. It would also be a pretty nifty Christmas present for the fan in your house, as everybody else would pick it up for a read and then want to watch all the series all over again. It would entertain bookworms to the casual reader, plus there’s some great behind the scenes photos. If you consider yourself a fan, or have voted for Clarkson/Hammond/May in a ‘weird crush’ poll (all of them have won this title once), or just want to keep your dad out of the kitchen this Christmas, buy this book. You will not be disappointed!

Thanks to Hachette for the copy of this book.

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The Top Gear ‘big books’ are always funny for both young and old TG fans (the annuals, in my opinion, are much better suited to youngsters, but more about that at a later date). I eagerly await each year’s ‘big book’ but disappointingly I couldn’t find one for 2011. Lo and behold, in the Top Gear Live programme there was a comic, with the tantalising phrase, ‘if you want to know more, get A Top Gear Christmas’. Like the good little lemming I am, I immediately jumped online to show more buy it. Unfortunately, my parcel spent Christmas in transit and I received it in time for New Year.

What’s it like reading a Christmas book just after Christmas? Before I can answer that, I need to state that it’s rather difficult reading about cold, snow, fires and scarves when it’s 40°C outside and you’re sweltering in shorts. So in fact, the Christmas theme didn’t really seem to bother me quite as much as it could have. The Christmas carols (rejigged to relate to Top Gear) were a bit flat for me, but younger readers may delight in changing the words! The index was very witty and funny (one of the few indexes I have ever read from top to bottom), as was the characterisation of the three presenters, which could be categorised as:
- Jeremy: tall, loud and likes blowing things up
- James: slow and talks about boring things
- Richard: only eats certain foods, likes fashion

Whether that’s true or not is another thing! But it’s wittily done and would be a good book to read on Christmas afternoon or on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It’s not quite as funny as the previous books, but I think that’s because the Christmas theme limits the topics somewhat.

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And on that Bombshell is a look back at the golden years of Top Gear from 2002 to the disastrous events of 2015 by the series script editor Richard Porter. As a big fan of the show I enjoyed the book immensely. As you might expect from a show writer, the book is just as witty and silly as the series was as it dives into the history of the show and how it became a global phenomenon. I loved hearing about the origin of the Stig and how the show managed to put stars in their reasonably priced show more car. It also answers the one question I always had about the series - yes the three presenters are basically the same in real life as you see them on tv. Overall it was a wonderful, nostalgic look back at Top Gear that made me want to go watch some reruns. This is definitely a must read for fans of the show.

I listened to the audio book narrated by Ben Elliot. show less