James May reveals the secret behind Top Gear's phenomenal global success

why was Top Gear during that era so successful I don't know people do ask the chemistry that presumably that the heart of is there is a chemistry there's there's a the I think one of the interesting things about about Top Gear is that it's it's three presenters and three is difficult socially I mean we know this from the old adage that two is company and three is cron it is very very true and on TV three people is is a slightly awkward number so there there's constant imbalance we do annoy each other we we are I always say that if we were all at school at the same time and at the same age which we're not but if we'd all been in the same year we'd have been in very different gangs I've heard you say this we wouldn't be in the same gang and that's what makes it work it's not I mean I often exaggerate it and say we are creatively fueled by our mutual load as you know it's not quite that but but there's a certain we needle each other and and it's almost a form of distrust of the others or or a a slight fear that the other person might be doing better than you or being clever than you it needs a bit of tension doesn't it definitely and I think when people have said to me um you know oh we we want to do a show about I know it'll be about something else like cooking or art or something oh we're thinking of having three presenters we want to sort of get do it a bit like you did on Top Gear in the ground tour what is the secret I always say to them you've got to find three people who essentially don't really like each other otherwise it won't work but there is there is something else and I've and I have you know often thought about this and I think that you actually see it most clearly in the top gear that happened after the three of you left I think what I think the fact that you have that that you had differences and you weren't all just CPO cutouts was great but what did unite you all was you had Authority you knew what you were talking about I and well and and I think the reason that you know that Chris Harris was Last Man Standing on on the top gear that came after your departure is exactly that he was actually the only person on there who really really knew I agree with you 100% on that and I think Chris Harris and you and various other people I could name that are are greater authorities than me on cars but the thing we used to do on on Top Gear and now on the ground tour even after it evolved to the point where it became a sort of cross between a pantomim and a circus and a sitcom and all those other things and was really car themed rather than a car show we would still occasionally allow or not be able to help ourselves showing that actually we did love the subject and we did know what we were talking about that's exactly it we we suppressed it and we sort of brushed it aside and were a bit embarrassed about it even but actually it was there and and everybody knew it was there and that's what gave you the credibility do you buy to this idea that it actually it wasn't a car show at all it was a sitcom about three middle-aged men living together in a con in a car related context and that's what was actually got people who were not interested in cars at all um to watch it to some extent but I I don't think it's as simple as that there are people in the world who think that we live in a big house together with some cars parked out the front and you know the Stig is in a shed or whatever it's not it it's a bit more subtle than that I mean it is true that I think quite a few people watched us because they just either pied us or found us amusing in some way or liked the you know the darness of of the ideas there were things that other people would like to be able to do if they had the time and the budget to do them so we were we were doing it so you didn't have to Etc um but it's it's it's a more complicated and it's a very fragile thing the the sort of relationship that makes a program like Top Gear in the ground tour work and it's it's I can't really articulate it and I don't know if anybody can otherwise you'd be able to reproduce it it goes back to the idea of you know reducing things this is what sort of marketing and analytical people do business analysts I mean is you know they reduce successful Enterprises or successful names into a series of bullet points as if you could then use those and reverse engineer them to create it doesn't work BMW or Top Gear or radio 3 or whatever no it doesn't work like that so so so there is a certain element of what's the word I mean I suppose people do call it chemistry don't they but there is a certain Stardust if you like which just happened to come together which nobody could have manufactured nobody could have predicted and it just happened to work yes although I would say um after the original the old Pebble Mill Top Gear from which I was fired uh fell apart and Clarkson and Wilman started working up the new idea for it um which did sort of incorporate a few things we'd done on driven as well because we were a little bit Innovative with our threeh header tests and our test track and things but when they when they did that and then they did the auditions I think actually I think Clarkson to his credit knows or knew that it would need that that that special relationship between the three people yeah and he was quite adamant about the sort of people he wanted to work with and although I was rejected the first time round I think secretly he I don't think he's ever admitted this to me but he really quite wanted me to be there cuz he could see that I was very different from him yeah whilst in some ways being very similar and he he got that so when you know when Jason decided he didn't want to carry on he went back and he said right now we have to try James because I think that would work and he was right and and you know me and Clarkson do wind each other up appallingly but that's what you need for TV you can't it can't be everybody meets up and has a big man hug you know nobody wants to see that it's appalling well there's a new idea for a TV show um do you think the other sort of ingredient here the other Insight is that okay people not many people have a geeky interest in cars the way that we do but because they are everywhere and most people drive and have to think about the cars that they buy they are just about interesting enough to a general audience to underpin a sort of mainstream entertainment show yes there's a bit of of all of that I think cars are something upon which a great many people probably the vast majority of people even if they're not technically interested in cars have a view of some sort because you know they impinge on everybody's lives of course they do if you did the same thing with say motorcycles or boats or or light aircraft people don't relate to them but people relate to cars the other thing is I think enthusiasm is infectious and very watchable or listenable sure um and that's not just true of cars I mean I remember when I you know when I did the wine series with Oz Clark I didn't really know anything about wine and I always used to refer to O as a Wine Pon cuz he went on about it but the thing is he knows so much much and is so excitable about it even about a bottle of bad wine he's still excited because that's increasing his knowledge and his experience you are bold Along by it because enthusiasts and experts are interesting and some sometimes I mean I listen to you to I mean sometimes you can be I mean not wishing to be rude but pretty dull about some aspect of car but I'm but I'm riveted by it because because it's a subject I like and and it sort of reawakens it in me I think oh yes I am interested in this and some people who have who have picked over a bit that I didn't know and it and it's and it's great you know it's fantastic and I I think that people like to see that

Channel: The Intercooler

Views: 104,581

Keywords:

Id: 2gp8FK2QgZc

Length: 7min 38sec (458 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 06 2024