We had a short, virtual sit down with “Top Gear” host Chris Harris to gather some of his thoughts on the impending season. Filming for the show paused when the U.K. shut down due to the pandemic, but the boys are back at it now to prepare season 29. Harris provides thoughts on everything from filming a car show during a pandemic to answering whether he ever tires of drifting. Read on for the Q&A.
What’s it like to shoot “Top Gear” during a pandemic?
“I think we’re in a fortunate position, because compared to a lot of drama and other factual stuff that people want to be filming and can’t, we are outside so much so we can distance a lot more. The BBC takes that very seriously, so we can’t do two or three shot in the car anymore. It’s gotta be individuals in the car, which is a bit limiting, which is a shame. Other than that, it’s business as usual. We just have to play by the rules, and if the rules change you have to adapt what you’ve been doing. Can’t be anymore straightforward than that really.
“It feels really good to be out and about working. I think the lockdown we had in the U.K. was different than yours [in America], but fundamentally I think people loved the first month. Just sort of brilliant, because they could see their kids, get drunk and chill out and sort of take a step back from life, but the frustrations then quickly kicked in, and they did for me. I wanted to be out working, so I feel very grateful to be out working again.”
Are you still happy with how the show is progressing despite the limitations?
“I think we are lucky. We got a lot done before the lockdown for this run. So, we’d shot pretty much half of it and perhaps a bit more before the lockdown, which is very fortunate, because I think trying to do an entire run of Top Gear under these conditions would be difficult, and I don’t think the product would be unrecognizable, but I think some of the crucial aspects of it: travel, and particularly two or three shots in cars which increasingly is good for us would be unmanageable. So, I’m pretty pleased with it. I think the stuff we shot before lockdown is really good as well. Some of it’s very, very funny. I think the show is in a good place. I’m very grateful.”
How has the show changed year-to-year with Fred, Paddy and yourself?
“Chemistry only increases over time. We’re lucky we started in a good place as personalities; we bounce off each other pretty naturally. We’re quite different people, but we know and like each other enough to be rude to each other. That’s an absolutely critical point there. Unless you really respect someone, you can’t actually take the piss out of them, and we do, so that’s great. I think it’s a different kind of human than the three amigos before, but it’s definitely resonating with the U.K. audience, because the numbers are up. There’s a lot of positive sentiment around it, and we’ve been moved to BBC1, which is a big vote of confidence. I think we’re in a good place. The one word that gets bandied around and that gets thrown at me is chemistry, the C word, and I think chemistry is one of those paradoxical situations where if you try and acknowledge it or try and work out whether it’s there or not, you may have missed the point. It should be seamless, and I think I’m in a position now with my two co-hosts where I don’t really think about it. Whatever we do, I know we’ll produce some good content, and that’s a nice, relaxing place to be.”
Do you see the three of you taking the Top Gear reins and making your own dynasty like Clarkson, Hammond and May did?
“I don’t know. I can’t really answer that. I love doing what I do. I know that Paddy and Fred love it as well. We have great fun together, but who knows what will happen in the future. I know the BBC are committed to it, and they want us to make more. There’s clearly an appetite for it in the U.K. and certainly the international sales are strong, so yeah I’d happily keep doing it for a long time. It’s a really enjoyable job.
“I get a lot of grief from people saying, ‘oh why don’t you go and do Chris Harris on Cars,’ and ‘you were better on the internet’ and all this sort of stuff. But you know, I did that. My career is very consistent in one way. I don’t do things for that long, and when I’ve done one, I move on and do something different. I’ve done YouTube. I’ve vaguely made it work. We did Drive, as well. We made that work. I want to do some more YouTube stuff, but on my own terms. I don’t want it to be the commercial basis of my life and have to make money out of it. But this is my TV phase. I’m privileged. I get to work on one of the most professional, exciting, big budget TV shows left out there. As a creative process it’s really, really interesting. It’s not better than YouTube, or worse. It’s just a different sort of thing, and it’s one of those boxes in my life I want to check off, and there will come a point where I go, ‘Well I’ve done that, I made a TV show. That’s great. Now I’ll go and do something else.’ I’ll go and sell chainsaws or become a clown, I don’t know, or just do something different instead.”
What exactly is next?
“I’ve got a YouTube channel that’s been dormant for five years, and I’d like to reboot that at some point. Not in a way that competes with TG, but I think people who follow me on social media will know that I lean towards older quirkier cars in my own sort of buying behaviors, and I think I’d like to explore that really. I just want to have a load of fun with my mates with my cars and their cars, and I think it would run well on YouTube. I’ve never said this before, but I think we will be going back to YouTube at some point toward the end of the year with something people will enjoy.”
I’m curious, any cars on Top Gear this season that surprised you?
“I couldn’t believe how fast the [McLaren] Speedtail was above 100 mph.
“Of the old cars, the one thing that staggered me was how cheap SLKs were. I just couldn’t believe (when we were looking around to buy a cheap convertible) that you could buy an SLK for so little money. You can get really quite a nice SLK for such little money.
“The Taycan was mind bending, absolutely mind bending.”
Do you ever get tired of drifting?
“Never. I never get tired of that sensation of slip angle of controlling a vehicle when responding to it as it moves in the slide, and your brain seamlessly deciding whether you want to give it a bit more throttle or take a bit of throttle off or add a bit of lock or take a bit of lock off. That sense of a car being in a slide is for me one of the most joyous experiences you can have and I never tire of it. And I’m the first person to admit that it has no relevance really to any kind of car reviewing. It’s meaningless, but you don’t drive like it on the road. You might on a track, but the reality is that a car that is driven in a straight linear fashion is pretty uninteresting, and I always think that you need to draw people into a film with a bit of eye candy, and a car fully sideways with the back tires on fire in fourth gear just looks more exciting than a car driving in a straight line or cornering in a normal racecar manner. So I’ll never apologize for it, and I just love doing it.”
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Source: https://www.autoblog.com/2020/08/06/chris-harris-top-hear-host-q-and-a/
