Presenters hail Top Gear as pure escapism from Brexit coverage
The show returns this week.
Presenter Chris Harris has said that Top Gear is welcome escapism from Brexit and a relief from dour media.
The journalist and star of the new-look motor show believes Top Gear offers viewers an antidote to dry television.
Harris said that his show follows the tradition of classic Sunday night entertainment, and is a welcome escape from modern worries.
The presenter believes that Top Gear pops the “bubble” of serious and widespread Brexit-centred programming and coverage bringing a divisive world into people’s living rooms.
He said: “Do you want to be sitting there with three blokes just sitting in a room discussing Brexit and the effect on the car industry and the fact diesel has gone up by 2p this week?
“I don’t think we need it at 8pm on a Sunday. I want to be watching him trying to make a mountain out of some rocks in a silly little car, with a German woman shouting at him.
“The world is a very, very divisive, serious place at the moment, and if that means that I get to stick my finger up Matt’s [LeBlanc] nose on a camera to pop that bubble a bit, then that is a good thing.”
The first episode of the new series will air on Sunday evening, and presenters believe it will be welcomed by a news-weary audience, who fear every fresh bulletin.
Fellow Top Gear presenter Rory Reid said: “You can often get freaked out when you see the BBC alerts pop up on your phone – the news alerts – like, ‘Oh God, what is happening now?’ But this is just pure escapism.”
Top Gear returns to BBC Two with a globe-trotting episode on Sunday February 17 at 8pm.
