Top year?

2008 has actually been our first year since Richard’s accident that we’ve done a normal run of two series, and personally I think the Summer run was patchy – didn’t find its feet until the Shit Alfas film in show 3, but rocked from then on – I mean Japan, TG versus the Germans – quality stuff there. As for this just finished Autumn run, I was crapping myself going into it cos we only had eight weeks to prepare, but in the end I’m very happy with it.

I think Star in a Car found its feet again after the less than successful “Two at a Time” experiment. All it takes is good guests really, and people of Boris’s calibre are just that. So we’ll continue SIARPC in this vein for a while (probably should change the car though) and I know that will annoy some of the Final Gearheads, but lads, we can’t make all of this show for you, and whilst I am genuinely interested to know what a 19 year old Skyline fanatic in Oregon thinks of the Japan race, at the end of the day I’m not that bothered about his opinion on Harry Enfield.

As for the the last show, the one with the Awards, was a bit patchy, but in truth it always will be. By the time we get to that one we’ve always run out of money and we write the studio bits in a day and frankly, it’s a bit of a demob happy affair – the Boxing Day casserole made with turkey leftovers if you will – so take it in that spirit, because the money not spent on that show has gone on Spitfires and cars going round shopping centres etc.

Actually on this point, you’re going to have to learn to love the turkey leftovers show even more, because next year we’re getting a budget cut. No point in moaning about that – all shows are suffering and nobody’s got a pot to piss in anymore anyway, so no reason why we shouldn’t suffer as well.

Our problem though is that there is no fat to trim off the show, in that we waste almost nothing behind the scenes and the old cliché of every penny goes on screen is actually true.

So in 2009 the budget cut has to affect what you watch, and Clarkson has had a brainwave in making this as painless as possible. Basically instead of trimming back a little bit on every show – losing a helicopter here or a truck crash there – we’ll endeavour to make 13 of our 14 shows as per the usual Jerry Bruckheimer standard, and then the last one, when we only have a tenner left, will be utter, utter shite.

But they had fun singing songs in the dark during the Blitz, so let’s see what happens. Great stuff may come of it.

That’s about it, so can I just thank, massively, everyone who watched the show so devotedly, everyone – presenters, cameramen, me and the office geeks, editors, soundmen, etc etc, who worked on it so bloody hard, everyone except the Stig basically, who was last seen on Santa’s knee in Selfridges about ten days ago.

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