The BBC’s new run of Top Gear has run into more trouble, as dozens of audience members reportedly left the studio before filming wrapped. The revamped show, featuring Chris Evans and Matt LeBlanc as its principal hosts, has already made headlines after a filming stunt beside the Cenotaph war memorial in London drew criticism from the public, will return to TV on May 29th.
According to The Independent, audience members in the show’s Dunsfold Aerodrome studio losing patience and filing out one after another after filming started running hours over schedule. The cause of the delay was reportedly down to the two hosts fudging their lines, particularly when it came to Evans introducing The Stig, the name given to the show’s mysterious expert driver.
Filming on the show’s studio segments began last Thursday, with the members of the public making up the audience banned from bringing mobile phones or recording devices onto the set to take photographs – something which had previously been allowed.
Guests on the show’s opening episode include celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and Oscar-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg, with unconfirmed reports that actor Brad Pitt pulled out of an appearance on the show at the last minute.
The troubled Top Gear revamp comes after the show’s former presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May are soon to begin filming their own show with Amazon, revealed earlier this month to be called The Grand Tour. The trio parted ways with the BBC after Clarkson was fired by the BBC for punching the show’s producer when filming a segment in Yorkshire in March, 2015.
