Gear change

The next big shot at a new Saturday night format from the BBC in-house team, The Getaway Car, hits our screens on January 9th, either preceding or following The Voice.

It's presented by Dermot O'Leary, and each of the 12 one-hour shows starts with 5 pairs of punters (couples, siblings, parents and children, friends) in a series of quiz games and "hilarious, high-octane" driving challenges. The programme features A/The Stig and his 'nephews', Blue and Red Stig - the pilot show was annnounced on 20th March, ten days after Jeremy Clarkson's suspension from Top Gear.  The series proper was recorded in October and November, so there's been plenty of time for adding the editing sparkle and slo-mos that made Total Wipeout such, ahem, compelling viewing. We are promised a glamorous and sunny location - I'm guessing it might be the Circuito Monteblanco, near Seville.

From the greenlight announcement back in August, there are many pinning their name to this one. It's been jointly commissioned by Controller BBC1 Charlotte Moore (£268k pa) and Acting Director of Vision Mark Linsey (last reported package £230k pa), endorsed by Katie Taylor, UK Controller of Entertainment Production (£187k pa), backed by Tracy Forsyth, Genre Director of Factual Entertainment & Entertainment [sic] at BBC Worldwide (undisclosed), overseen by Clare Pizey, Head of Factual Entertainment and Format Entertainment Production (£149k pa), executive-produced by Andy Rowe (undisclosed) and series-produced by Emma Taylor (undisclosed).