Top Gear will not replace Evans

Chris Evans (centre) alongside Matt LeBlanc and ‘The Stig’

The BBC is not looking to replace host Chris Evans on its best-selling motoring show Top Gear following his high-profile exit in July.

Evans revealed he was leaving the pubcaster’s rebooted version of Top Gear after one season of poor ratings, having been brought in to replace previous presenting trio Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond, who departed last year after Clarkson hit a producer.

The new version of the hit show, which premiered in May, slumped to fewer than two million viewers per episode in its latter episodes but Mark Linsey, who heads up the recently launched production division BBC Studios, said a replacement for Evans was not being sought “at the moment.”

Mark Linsey

Evans was part of a seven-person team that hosted the show including its first female presenter and former Friends star Matt LeBlanc. Lindsey told the Guardian he hoped the actor would return for a second season.

“Clearly the viewers enjoyed Matt LeBlanc and we want him to come back. Clearly they enjoyed the other Chris [Harris], and Rory [Reid] – they have told us that.

“All the elements were there of an ensemble rather than just focusing it on Chris [Evans], and I think that is evident in the way that we produced it. There will be change, but we will be building on the characters that worked, i.e. Rory, Chris and Matt LeBlanc.”

Linsey, who previously oversaw the BBC’s entertainment output, said he expected the revamped show’s ratings to be down on previous seasons and said it needed “time to grow.”

He added that BBC Studios would not prove to be a precursor to privatisation. The production arm is being split off as a commercial entity, making shows for other broadcasters. In return, all BBC shows will be opened up for production by third-party prodcos.

“Yes we will be commercial in certain areas. But really we are there to be part of the BBC group and part of the BBC values. That may mean that commercially we don’t always participate as other production arms would,” said Linsey.

“We can see very much our purpose is reputational; it’s safeguarding those genres that other producers or broadcasters don’t necessarily do. We are not a plc – others, particularly the larger producers, the more consolidated producers, have year-on-year growth to achieve. We are not under that pressure. And certainly, we don’t want to be privatised.”