“Top Gear” Host Paddy McGuinness On How Long It Takes To Make An Episode Of “Top Gear”
Top Gear — the world’s biggest motoring entertainment show — made its return to television earlier this summer with its Top Gear Nepal Special, as shown on BBC AMERICA. The special saw the team embarking on an epic high-altitude voyage from Kathmandu to the Forbidden City of Lo Manthang. The new lineup of Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris proved to be an immediate hit with long-time viewers and critics of Top Gear alike from all over the world.
A followup to the Nepal Special, the upcoming season of Top Gear will premiere on Sunday, October 18, 2020 at 8:00 PM EST / PST. The new season sees hosts Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris tackle a giant carnival-inspired “Wall Of Death” driving old insurance write-offs, hurtle down a ski slope in Cyprus in €30 (about $36 USD) holiday hire cars, and race around an eerily empty Alton Tower Resort in the latest electrics. BBC AMERICA’s recently-released Top Gear trailer — featuring Labrinth’s “Express Yourself” — shows a glimpse of the lead up to an ill-fated Lamborghini Diablo incident with McGuinness behind the wheel, as well as its aftermath on a flatbed truck. Elsewhere in the trailer, Freddie attempts to go 200 MPH in a 1990s Jaguar, the hosts find themselves strapped into chairs on top of their cars, and McGuinness’ latest “build.” Not the kind of stuff I regular do, no.
The new season of Top Gear halted production back in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but after a greenlight from the Government of the United Kingdom, production was resumed in mid-June with a new approach to finish the season. For the in-studio segments, the hosts left the confines of their regular Top Gear studio — a hangar at the show’s iconic track in Dunsfold, Surrey — filming instead outdoors on the racecourse in front of a 500-strong socially distant drive-in audience. 160 cars filled with fans got to see the trio entertaining from a big main stage flanked by video screens, as well as from a smaller satellite stage located in the middle of the on-site drive-in crowd.
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of asking a few questions to Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris in a group interview via Zoom. McGuinness answered how long it takes to film the average of Top Gear, given that the hosts frequently travel to filming locations outside of Surrey and sometimes have to undergo training related to their show.
Responded Paddy McGuinness, with Flintoff and Harris in agreement and seated next to him: “Something like the ‘Wall Of Death’ took 2 days to film and it’s on your screens for about 25 minutes, 30 minutes. It shows you what goes into it. But if we do any of the films where we’re traveling, for instance [TVR] Sagaris, we were out there for 4, 5 days, and on your screen it’s 25 minutes. McGuinness later confirmed the aforementioned “Wall Of Death” experience to be his scariest yet as a Top Gear host, meaning that this particular episode is not to be missed.
More information on Top Gear and its hosts can be found via www.topgear.com, www.instagram.com/topgear, www.twitter.com/BBC_TopGear and the BBC AMERICA website.
About the Author
Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."
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