Top Gear Christmas specials ‘scrapped’ by BBC as next episodes set to air in 2017

Scrapped: There will be no Top Gear Christmas specials this year
BBC World Wide/Jeff Spicer
Jennifer Ruby12 July 2016

The BBC will not air any Top Gear Christmas specials this year.

According to reports, the broadcaster has ‘axed’ planned episodes as they need time to re-format the show before the new series next year.

The revamped programme, which suffered poor ratings and mixed reviews when it hit screens this year, was expected to return for festive one-offs.

But since Chris Evans announced his departure from the show last week, it seems that the plans have been scrapped.

A BBC spokesperson told Standard Online: “Planning for Top Gear series 24 is currently underway and the team will be working towards bringing the show back sometime in the early part of 2017.”

While the BBC are yet to announce the line-up for next year’s series, reports suggest that Matt LeBlanc could be hosting the motoring show on his own.

Evans, who said that he’d given the show his ‘best shot’, has insisted that LeBlanc is perfect for the role.

Writing in the Mail On Sunday, Evans said: “For me, he is the man.

"He is the captain Top Gear truly needs going forward, the perfect torso for the rest of TG's limbs.

"Not only does he eat, sleep, breathe and dream engines, propshafts and trail-braking, but the overwhelming quality that struck me about him is that he's just such a pro.”

Evans added: “The whole time I worked with him, he never once looked at the clock, was never late on set, knew his lines inside out and back to front and, most importantly on such an intense production, he always had time for everyone, especially the crew.”

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