LONDON , June 16 (UPI) — British TV and radio personality Chris Evans has signed a three-year deal to star in a revamped version of Top Gear, the BBC announced Tuesday.
Production on the new season of Top Gear will start in the next few weeks, with additional casting to be announced soon.
The future of the wildly popular, car-themed docu-series has been in question for months after co-host Jeremy Clarkson was fired due to his abusive behavior toward a producer. No criminal charges were filed against Clarkson, however.
His co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond have supported Clarkson and said they don’t want to continue the series without him.
“I’m thrilled, Top Gear is my favorite program of all time. Created by a host of brilliant minds who love cars and understand how to make the massively complicated come across as fun, devil-may-care and effortless. When, in fact, of course, it’s anything but and that’s the genius of Top Gear’s global success,” Evans said in a statement. “I promise I will do everything I possibly can to respect what has gone on before and take the show forward.”
“I am so delighted that Chris will be presenting the next series of Top Gear,” added Kim Shillinglaw, controller of BBC Two and BBC Four. “His knowledge of and passion for cars are well-known and, combined with his sheer inventiveness and cheeky unpredictability, he is the perfect choice to take our much-loved show into the future. Chris is a huge fan of Top Gear and has great respect for the craft and work ethic of one of the best production teams in the world. He knows the phenomenal attention to detail it takes to make a single sequence of Top Gear, let alone a whole series. He is already full of brilliant ideas and I can’t wait for him to get started.”
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