Fifth Gear Returns.

[leckman]

Fifth Gear returns on the 3' September on......................The Discovery Channel!!.(Sky channel 520).

[Waplord]

thats going to be repeats though mate, new episodes are always shown on channel 5 first.

Many appologies, upon looking at it, it appears to be a new series on Discovery which is rather unusual.

[leckman]

No, brand new 1 hour episodes new and exclusive to Discovery-started advertising them tonight,took me by surprise I must admit.

[gadgetman]

New New, or as above simply 'new' to Discovery. As in 'New' Top gear on Dave, which is years old.

[Waplord]

Brand new apparently

Discovery has poached Channel 5’s flagship series Fifth Gear in a move that will shift the motoring show exclusively to pay-TV after 10 years of airing on the PSB.

Discovery head of programming for Western Europe Dan Korn fought off competition from C5 to secure Fifth Gear, which will be distributed across Europe later this year.

The investment forms part of Discovery’s push to increase spend in the UK by 50%.

The broadcaster has agreed a two-year, 18-hour deal with indie North One Television to fully fund the series, having previously acquired finished programmes.

Discovery head of production and development for factual Elizabeth McIntyre ordered the show.

Fifth Gear will evolve to reflect its wider reach, with more on-location trips – coverage of rallying in the Nordics and Formula 1 in Italy or Germany is expected alongside greater exposure for local drivers.

North One’s James Woodroffe will continue to exec produce.

Two 9 x 60-minute series have initially been ordered, restoring the show to its full length after it was cut to 30 minutes as part of a two-year deal with C5 in 2010.

Korn said the show would continue to be aimed at motoring aficionados but offer “fewer, meatier items”. He added: “We no longer have to compromise and can put our own stamp on it to ensure it is meeting the needs of our audience.”

North One managing director Heather Jones said: “A new home is always an opportunity to breathe new life into a brand. The discussions with Discovery about the editorial of Fifth Gear have been incredibly positive and creative.”

Talks are being finalised to negotiate Fifth Gear’s global commercial exploitation, which could include live events, digital content and merchandise, she added.

All3Media, which owns North One, will manage third-party acquisition deals but no free-to-air rights will be available in the UK.

A C5 spokeswoman said: “It’s been a popular format, but the decision has been taken to explore new ideas.”

Which in plain english means

1. We'll slash the budget to bugger all

2. We'll commission 2 maybe 3 series

3. We'll repeat them non stop across all the discovery channels for the next 5 years non stop.

and most interestingly

"All3Media, which owns North One, will manage third-party acquisition deals but no free-to-air rights will be available in the UK."

Which means it won't be coming to any channel that broadcasts on Freeview/Freesat

[BossFox]

Pay to watch? :(

Hopefully the decent bits turn up on youtube then.

[gadgetman]

Hopefully plenty of VBH, and being pay-TV only, she best be scantly clad!

[Jim H]

I suppose it's like the brand new series of Red Dwarf. It is going to be first shown on Dave, not the BBC,

Having said that you can see Dave on Freeveiw.

[Jim H]

Hopefully plenty of VBH, and being pay-TV only, she best be scantly clad!

mmmmm VBH

At least I can see it as I've got Virmin Media (it's ch212).

Edited 21 August, 2012 by Jim H

[@Lee]

imagine the uproar if Top Gear went to PTV! Not such a far out thought either, with JC working for Murdoch.

[Coops]

3rd Sept you say, will have to set the Sky box to record and see what it's like.

Hope Discovery Channel won't mess with it too much - was always a very informative programme (can't really compare it against TG though!)

[dbg400]

It'll probably be available through finalgear.com, for those that need their fix

[MartynVRS]

That's where I'll be getting it from. Tiff, Plato and Jonny have been talking about filming for a while. Seems they've been doing it for ages so hopefully they've dobe quite a bit

[Chronicbint]

A channel to avoid in September, awful program.

[BossFox]

That's where I'll be getting it from. Tiff, Plato and Jonny have been talking about filming for a while. Seems they've been doing it for ages so hopefully they've dobe quite a bit

They were filming back in Feb/Mar when I was at Millbrooke.

Apparently they've filmed two series.

[Aspman]

I suppose it's like the brand new series of Red Dwarf. It is going to be first shown on Dave, not the BBC,

Having said that you can see Dave on Freeveiw.

Not in the sticks you can't, we get a reduced selection. Nice that they've omitted Dave etc but kept Rabbit Gay Chat

[MartynVRS]

They were filming back in Feb/Mar when I was at Millbrooke.

Apparently they've filmed two series.

Makes sense but how old will the cars, or rather how out of date will the tests be if they've done 2 series?

As for car type programs with DRIVE in Youtube I'm pretty much sorted and Fifth Gear is a bonus. Really like the tests Plato and Tiff do and nice to see what different things Jonny does. He is working on the worlds fastest street legal electric car.

Top Gear won't be back until the new year

[BossFox]

Makes sense but how old will the cars, or rather how out of date will the tests be if they've done 2 series?

That was my concern. Especially by the second series it's going to be stuff that has been seen already some time ago via other mediums.

[roo]

A channel to avoid in September, awful program.

+1 :p

[Jim H]

Not in the sticks you can't, we get a reduced selection. Nice that they've omitted Dave etc but kept Rabbit Gay Chat

Yep, when our local repeater transmitter converts to digital next month, we will only get Freeveiw lite, (about 15 channels). This like you doesn't include Dave. At moment from we can only get 4 analogue channels (no ch5), from there. I wouldn't say I was in the 'sticks' though.

However, we have had a good aerial installer to fit a good aerial and despite the Moors in the way, get a signal from the main transmitter (Billsdale) and therefore able to receive most freeview channels. I can't get !TV4 though. As mentioned above, we also pay for the full Virmin Media TV package which includes , these and the Discovery channels.

[leckman]

Not perfect but better than nothing as it seems Topgear is off the air for the rest of the year.

[Jim H]

Not perfect but better than nothing as it seems Topgear is off the air for the rest of the year.

Yep, but they are currently filming in our area.

Pics on this forum thread. www.vagcars.co.uk - Just met.... I think they have been to Croft and in Richmond today.

Edited 22 August, 2012 by Jim H

[leckman]

According to a story on the online 'Daily Mail' they are filming for a 'Spin Off DVD'.So defo' no TV series then.

[@Lee]

for those who are inclined there are t'internet sites where you can get TV shows from. Not 100% sure about the legality as they are TV shows and NOT films. EZTV being one I remember off hand.

[mdon]

Well I've just watch it on sky anytime because I'm so bored and can't sleep after my night shift, it's still as rubbish as ever! I watched the hour long program in 20 minutes through fast forwarding through all the waffle. Wtf is with the team challenge? They all sit around in the back of the car talking about it? Why can't one person just give a review on it? The jumping the beetle was a load of rubbish, no way did some of them get that much 'air' as depicted by those stakes!

I won't be watching another episode, no match for top gear and their challenges.