Top Gear France

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Top Gear France
Genre
Presented by
Opening theme"Jessica"
Country of originFrance
Original languageFrench
No. of series5
No. of episodes45
Production
Executive producerGery Leymergie
Producers
  • Stéphane Gillot
  • Olivier Ruan
Production companyBBC
Original release
NetworkRMC Découverte Prime Video
Release3 March 2015 (2015-03-03) – present
Related

Top Gear France is a French television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars, derived from the British series of the same name. It was broadcast for the first time on 18 March 2015 on the RMC Découverte channel. From 2015 to 2022, it was presented by actor Philippe Lellouche, the professional racing driver Bruce Jouanny and electronic music artist and journalist Yann Larret-Menezo (aka "Le Tone").[1] Since 2023, the show is presented by Sylvain Lévy and Pierre Chabrier.

History

In March 2014, Jean-Louis Blot, the director of BBC France, announced that his company was working on a French adaptation of the show Top Gear. On 28 August 2014, RMC Découverte announced at its autumn conference the production of a French version, which started broadcasting on 18 March 2015.

Filming began at the end of 2014 and 27 January 2015 on the runways on the Brienne-le-Château airfield, located near Troyes.[2]

On May 17, 2023, it was announced that the new series would be broadcast on Prime Video on top of RMC Découverte with two new hosts: Sylvain Lévy and Pierre Chabrier from the YouTube channel Vilebrequin.[3]

Overview

200 candidates were suggested for the cast,[1] including Christophe Dechavanne, Vincent Cerutti,[4] Stéphane De Groodt, Vincent Perrot, and Stéphane Rotenberg.[5]

On November 7, 2014 the trio of presenters were announced. They are the actor (and former journalist) Philippe Lellouche, professional driver Bruce Jouanny, and electronic music artist and journalist Yann Larret-Menezo, former editor of the magazine Intersection.[6] Luc Alphand joins the team in 2021 as the fourth member.

Episodes

Series 1

No. Title Air date
1"The Test of the Four Elements"
"À l'épreuve des quatre éléments"
3 March 2015 (2015-03-03)
2"The Crossing of Paris"
"La traversée de Paris"
18 March 2015 (2015-03-18)
3"France-Germany, revenge (Car football)"
"France-Allemagne, la revanche (Carfootball)"
25 March 2015 (2015-03-25)
4"Amphibious challenge"
"Défi amphibie"
1 April 2015 (2015-04-01)
5"Road trip to the mountain"
"Road trip à la montagne"
8 April 2015 (2015-04-08)
6"Twingo 3 in all its States"
"Twingo 3 dans tous ses états"
15 April 2015 (2015-04-15)
7"Occupation Stuntman"
"Profession cascadeur"
22 April 2015 (2015-04-22)

Series 2

This second season of Top Gear France contains 8 episodes and three additional episodes.

Series 3

This third season of Top Gear France contains 8 episodes. The first episode was broadcast on December 21, 2016.

Later series

Broadcast

The first season consisted of 10 episodes,[2] seven of which are completely new and three that include the highlights of that season.[7] Top Gear episodes are broadcast on RMC Découverte on Wednesday evening at 20:45 for the first episode and 22:20 for the second.[8]

The first program broadcast at 20:45 on 18 March 2015 set an audience record for RMC Découverte, with 966,000 viewers and a 3.6% audience share.[9]

Segments

Challenges

During this sequence, the presenters are given a limited budget to buy a car that meets specific criteria. In the first episode, they receive €1500 to buy the car of their childhood dreams[8] (a Renault Fuego, a BMW 3 Series, and a Talbot Matra Rancho).[10] In the third episode, Le Tone and Bruce Jouanny play football with French and German vehicles in a rematch of the 2014 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal between France and Germany.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b ""Top gear": découvrez les présentateurs de la version française" (in French). Bfmtv.com. 7 November 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Top gear Avant-première made in France" (in French). VSD. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  3. ^ "https://twitter.com/VilebrequinAuto/status/1658851171665170436". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-05-17. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  4. ^ ""Top Gear" France : Philippe Lellouche, Bruce Jouanny et Yann Larret-Menezo à l'animation" (in French). Ozap.com. 7 November 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  5. ^ "Top Gear : Stéphane de Groodt et Vincent Perrot sur RMC Découverte ?" (in French). Toutelatele.com. 5 October 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  6. ^ "Top Gear to be launched in France".
  7. ^ "Le Top Gear français arrive sur RMC Découverte" (in French). Tvmag.lefigaro.fr. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  8. ^ a b "Invités et sommaires des deux premiers numéros de Top Gear France" (in French). Leblogtvnews.com. February 25, 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  9. ^ "Audiences : France 2 bat TF1, carton pour "Top Gear" et W9, flop pour Adriana Karembeu sur M6" (in French). Ozap.com. March 19, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  10. ^ "Top Gear France : On a vu l'épisode 1 !" (in French). Autoplus.fr. March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  11. ^ "Invité et sommaire du 3ème numéro de Top Gear France" (in French). Leblogtvnews.com. March 10, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2015.

External links