Top Gear: A One-Shot For Every Episode

S01xE02: Playing Off Each Other

Series 1 episode 2

After the success of the third pilot episode, the boys begin filming the studio bits for the second episode. And Richard notes that he and Jeremy both play off each other very well, but as an unfortunate and complete unintentional result, it causes Jason to be more or less pushed to the sidelines....

Word Count; 1,424

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Richard is glad Jeremy had convinced him to stick around, because despite the pilot not being absolutely perfect, it turns out that Top Gear, so far, is a hit with petrolheads in the UK. It's not worldwide fame for sure, but they've got a viewership within the UK, and that is good enough.

Of course, he, Jeremy, and Jason are still all signed on for at least one series which the BBC has granted them, so they were always going to film ten episodes for one series to begin with. It's not until after the series has all been filmed and aired completely when they'll really find out how successful this has all been and if the BBC will grant them a second series.

It's still a bit too early yet to know if this will be all worth it.

However, even if things all go pear shaped by the end of the series, Richard won't deny that he didn't enjoy working on Top Gear, and having the chance to work alongside Jeremy Clarkson. Because growing up, the old Top Gear was one of his favourite shows, and he had always dreamed about working on the show. Even going as far as auditioning for a position on the old show, but sadly was rejected.

He'll be forever grateful that his audition this time around was a success. He's man enough to admit that he had cried when he had received the phone call that he had gotten the part.

There's a lot more people in the studio this time around as he, Jeremy, and Jason gather in front of the Fords surrounded by the audience. Granted the audience is primarily made up of members of the Ford RS Owners Club, but it's certainly a bigger and better outcome than the last pilot episode they had filmed.

And things go much better this second episode, despite some of the same issues as the first, mostly issues with the hangar. But now that they feel more confident after the reception of the third pilot, things run more smoothly.

And Richard finds himself having a lot more fun than before.

He can already tell that the chemistry between him and Jeremy as they play off each other works brilliantly. Like they just fit together perfectly.

However, as filming goes on, and the more he and Jeremy film and interact together, he becomes vaguely aware that they're not exactly letting Jason interact and talk as much as them. Or more or less Jeremy isn't giving him the chance.

Richard wants to believe that it's just Jason's inexperience in television that's hindering things and preventing him from really showing how great he could be. But Richard knows that Jason Dawe wasn't Jeremy's first choice as presenter....

He knows very well that Jeremy had wanted James May on board. And having run into the man a lot at car events that the two of them would frequent a lot, and having watched James on old Top Gear and read his columns in Autocar Magazine, he can understand why Jeremy would want James on the show.

Unfortunately, James had declined the offer....

And actually, if he's being honest, Richard isn't even sure if he was even one of Jeremy's first choices as presenter, considering he had felt that his audition wasn't that good. Richard's not even sure if Jeremy had even seen any of his previous works on television while he was doing motoring shows on the Grenada Men & Motors channel.