Top Gear makes slow start

Top Gear’s new presenters Matt LeBlanc (left) and Chris Evans

The BBC’s newly revamped Top Gear attracted an average of 4.4 million viewers to its first episode, its lowest season debut in a decade, but was the pubcaster’s top show on its VoD service.

The refreshed BBC2 series, co-hosted by Chris Evans and former Friends star Matt LeBlanc, peaked at 4.7 million viewers and was the most watched show in its slot at 20.00, attracting 22.8% of viewers.

Evans took to Twitter to defend the programme, claiming it was the most watched show on the BBC’s iPlayer and had attracted a bigger share of audience than its equivalent last year.

It featured interviews with celeb chef Gordon Ramsay and actor Jesse Eisenberg along with a trip to the US Top Gun school.

Evans and LeBlanc were brought in after ex-presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond left the show after Clarkson’s assault on a producer last year.

The trio have since inked a deal with Amazon to produce their own series, which will be titled The Grand Tour and will air later this year.

Rumblings of disquiet emerged during production on the revamped BBC show, meanwhile, with the exec producer and BBC2’s channel controller both departing.

Top Gear is a cash cow for the BBC and commercial arm BBC Worldwide, which led its sales slate at February’s Showcase event with the new show.

Netflix has since picked up the series, as have numerous broadcasters around the world.