Fifth Gear

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This article is about the TV series. For other uses of "5th Gear", see 5th Gear.
5th Gear

The Fifth Gear Logo
Format Motoring and motorsports
Starring Tiff Needell
Vicki Butler-Henderson
Tom Ford
Jason Plato
Jonny Smith
Country of origin United Kingdom
Production
Running time 46 minutes currently
23 minutes originally
Production
company(s)		 North One
Broadcast
Original channel Five
Original run 2002 – present
External links
IMDb profile

Fifth Gear (formerly 5th Gear) is a motoring magazine show on British television channel Five. The programme is due to start its fourteenth series in July 2008. Fifth Gear has also aired on the SPEED Channel in the USA for a short period in 2006 to early 2007. Repeats of Fifth Gear also started airing on UKTV channel, Dave in April 2008. Fifth Gear first aired in 2002 as a replacement to the original incarnation of the BBC show Top Gear (as opposed to the current format), which was cancelled in 2001 due to low ratings. Five originally wanted to carry on using the Top Gear name, but the BBC refused. Several of Top Gear's ex-presenters, including Quentin Willson, Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson were hired by Five to present Fifth Gear. After the completion of Fifth Gear's first series, the BBC relaunched Top Gear in a new hour-long format presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and Jason Dawe (replaced after the first season by current presenter James May).

Contents

[edit] Show format

The original format consisted of a 30 minute programme, including approximately 7 minutes of adverts. The eighth season returned in the autumn of 2005 in a longer format of 45 minutes, and the ninth series (which went to a 13-week run) was increased to a one hour airtime slot (approximately 46 minutes excluding adverts).

[edit] Location

At the start of season 10 the show introduced between-feature links filmed at the Ace Cafe in London. In previous seasons these links were filmed at the production company offices in Birmingham.

[edit] Presenter Line-up

For season 10 Tim Lovejoy was introduced as a main presenter, this was shortlived when Tom Ford replaced Lovejoy alongside Vicki Butler-Henderson for season 11 onwards. Ford and Butler-Henderson join regular presenters Jason Plato, Jonny Smith and Tiff Needell. Needell and Plato are predominantly used in performance car features where Smith and Ford cover lifestyle and general motoring issues. Previous presenters have included ex-Top Gear presenter Quentin Wilson and ex-Top Gear editor and Fifth Gear producer, Jon Bentley who presented safety and scientific features.

[edit] Accidents

During Season 12[1] two accidents took place during filming.

  • Episode 7: Tom Ford broke his foot and several toes[2] when he crashed a modified Bedford Rascal van. Ford was recording a piece about drifting. He and co-host Jonny Smith were racing each other in a D1 Grand Prix style around a private track. After winning the event, Ford was performing a victory drift that went wrong, put his van (painted to resemble the A-Team GMC Van) up on two wheels and sent him into a safety barrier. The incident was alluded to in the Autumn 2007 series of Top Gear by presenter Jeremy Clarkson.
  • Episode 8: BTCC driver Jason Plato suffered multiple burns when a Caparo T1 he was driving at Bruntingthorpe proving ground burst into flames[3]. The car, capable of 200mph, burst into flames at an estimated 150mph. Plato said: "There was a slight loss of power, I looked in the mirror and saw some smoke, there was a slight smell of oil and then suddenly there was this intense heat. The car spontaneously erupted into a ball of flames and I was sat in the middle of a fireball." The presenter was initially taken to Market Harborough and District Hospital by former BTCC driver Phil Bennett before being treated at Kettering General Hospital. He later received specialist burns treatment at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

[edit] The Fifth Gear awards

Each year, the programme gives out various awards:

[edit] 2004

[edit] 2005

[edit] 2006

[edit] 2007

[edit] Shoot outs

Fifth Gear claims to be 'world renowned' for their 'infamous' shoot outs, between similarly priced, similarly powerful cars, or, recently, cars versus bikes. These shoot outs take place at the Anglesey Circuit on the Isle of Anglesey close to Aberffraw. During the refurbishment of Anglesey, shoot-outs were switched to Castle Combe Circuit.

[edit] 2002 (Seasons 1 and 2)

[edit] 2003 (Seasons 3 and 4)

[edit] 2004 (Seasons 5 and 6)

[edit] 2005 - Season 7

[edit] 2005 - Season 8

[edit] 2006 - Season 9

[edit] 2006 - Season 10

[edit] 2007 - Season 11

[edit] 2007 - Season 12

[edit] 2008 - Season 13

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fifth Gear: Behind the scenes Accessed 28 May 2008
  2. ^ Fifth Gear star Tom Ford hurt in crash Autotrader.co.uk News - Accessed 10 October 2007
  3. ^ Plato injured as Caparo T1 bursts into flames Crash.net News - Accessed 10 October 2007