And On That Bombshell: Inside the Madness and Genius of TOP GEAR

Got this as a gift for our college grandson!

Just finished it, and really enjoyed it. Porter captures the highs and lows that made Top Gear such a phenomenal show. I came to the show during its 10th series and kept with it pretty much up until the end. Porter covers most of glory times of those earlier shows and in short easy to digest chapters in a prose that reads much in the same way as Clarkson speaks. My personal favorites were always the road trips to places like Vietnam, Bolivia, and the Second America Trip. Those along with some of the more amusing challenges was always what kept me coming back along with the segments on new cars and whatever ones seem to have caught one of the presenters fancy. Porter seems to have been in the Inner Circle of the show for such a long period and am sure has tons of more stories and anecdotes to offer. I was surprised that the book seemed to end almost too quickly, and would have liked more insight into such things involved in the show. Porter also does his best to cover things that didn't go so well on the show. From segments that didn't work that we know about, for example The dreaded India special that seemed to show cracks in the foundation of the World's Most Watched Show, to the Burma special that i consider to be just un-watchable. He Porter offers his peek behind the curtain into segments that never saw the light of day and as he describes them for all very good reasons. The chapters devoted to the fictional tame racing driver The Stig were my favorites and the chapter singling out Michael Schumacher is touching and done very well and is one of my favorite moments from the show. The final chapter in the book simply titled The End is a bit of a head scratcher for me. Porter who had gone on for the entire book about how they were all friends and got along fine seems to suddenly distance himself from Clarkson and the incident that spelled the end for Top Gear in this current incarnation. At first i was angered and disappointed by this as to how this guy who was such an integral part of the show's crew and continually praised Clarkson's devotion to the show and making it the best that it could be to suddenly change camps and call out Clarkson's apology to the staff as "Half-Hearted and Childish." About this time then realized that the show ended simply because the BBC wanted it to end. If they hadn't it wouldn't have and would have continued. They would have sat down Clarkson Oisin (the employee stated in the book that Clarkson "punched') and simply said let's come to terms with this and move on with our operation of entertaining people, and pretty much printing money. As that didn't happen Top Gear with Hammond, May, and Clarkson has now ended for better or worse. Overall it's an excellent, excellent book for any fan of Top Gear and one that i can highly recommend. Enjoy!!

Not a hard read, at all. The simple and easy manner in which it was written takes nothing away from the content and knee-jerking into your face hilarity.Those of us who love this show for literally everything in it have been craving this book for years and, now it has ended, we have been given our dues. It brings the boys into a bit more clarity and explains much of what made Top Gear such an international favorite; that is, much of what we figured.Richard Porter was there for nearly everything and does a good job of relating TG history without too much bias; impressive since he was involved with it all on some level and to some degree.I do wish more could have been fleshed out for this book. Perhaps what I truly want is someone from the team to make a book going through each episode ever made and giving us little inside jokes and trivia.Top Gear was going to end up in flames, as Porter admits at the end (not his words), and I personally can't let it go. It was there for me in some of the worst parts of my life so far. I watched at least one episode, though usually more, every day, for years. I still do most days.This book helps heal the wound that is left from the calamitous end of TG due to Jeremy's ill-fated date with a bottle of rosé and the events that followed. I think it is important to note that Porter is properly ticked at Jeremy for what happened and isn't making excuses for him. Top Gear was a tight knit team and that comes across exceptionally well. I like that Porter said what he did and how he said it about Jeremy's incident.That said, I love the book, I love Porter's perspective, I love the history, I love the trivia, I love the way the passion and dedication of the whole team came across to me. I love that there was so much humor laced with facts, just like the show itself was.I am grateful this book exists because I am one of those eternally obsessed fans of the show and the boys. I can't wait to re-read it again, and again. Definitely going to be a staple of my reading material (which regularly includes all three of the boys' books), anyway.Thank you, Richard Porter. This story needed to be told.

I loved this book. I am a massive fan of the James, Jeremy, and Richard version of Top Gear (AKA the real version) and I enjoyed every page. After reading this I believe that Richard Porter was the heart and soul of Top Gear, and I believe you will feel the same if you loved the show as well. Worth every penny

Interesting history of the show written by one of the writers

...but I just wanted to know more about the inner workings of one of my favorite programs (yes, as my spelling indicates, I’m an American). This book delivered a lot of stories about the nuts and bolts of the show. But, if I’m honest, I’d like to have read more.Some chapters went into great detail about some of my favorite episodes. But, others are barely mentioned (for example, there’s only a brief mention of the Middle East Special, with zero info on the planning and making of the episode). So, while I very much liked what the author shared, it felt like half the book I wanted to read.If the adage “always leave them wanting more” is true, then this book delivers. But I felt frustrated when the author started wrapping up by talking about the last series, because I knew he wasn’t going to fill in the holes. Like the show itself, it ended too soon.

I loved the original "new" Top Gear. Being in the States I missed a lot of the old Top Gear and I don't think I really missed that much. Porter tells the behind the scenes story of the show and it's well told and interesting. I am thrilled that Amazon picked up The Grand Tour and can't wait for the next show.

As a total Top Gear fanboi, I eagerly awaited the release of this book from Richard Porter which I learned about from the shameless self-promotion on his Sniff Petrol Twitter account. It was a great stocking filler for Christmas 2016 and I devoured it, written in Porter's distinctive irreverent style that made him an integral part of the TG team and a must have transfer when they started The Grand Tour. There are two sections each 8 pages with behind-the-scenes pictures. The best bit (spoiler alert) was the astounding revelation on page 224 of Michael Schumacher's technical nous but his all round humility and ability to work the scene and just do what the producers required of him in the "Stigmacher" chapter. Great book which I passed on to my son to read.

There are quite a few of these books out just now and, I believe, several of them are less than brilliant. Happily, this one is really good. It very nearly got that fifth star from me; not quite. Now, I have to confess that, not only was I a fan of Top Gear, but I also really like the writing of Jeremy Clarkson and his columns are superbly humorous in that irreverent and wildly over the top manner for which he is famous. So I was delighted to find echoes of that form in Richard Porter's writing style; it's like a slightly toned down version of Clarkson himself and that's a good things as it has just the right amount of abrasion and humour.One of the things that gives this book, among all of those jumping on the Top Gear bandwagon, real authority is that, rather than being written by someone who was connected to the TV show for a while and then moved on, the author, Richard Porter, was a key member of the team for almost the entire life of the show. In an echo of Jeremy Clarkson's book style, Richard Porter has formed this book as a series of distinct and short chapters that each deals with a separate topic with no real link from one chapter to the next. Quite a lot of what is in here isn't revelationary; most readers will know all of this, but there are genuine snippets of insight into the world of TG and, certainly, enough to keep the reader turning the pages.So why no fifth star? Well, I wasn't expecting some explosive 'outing' declaring that one of the stars had a penchant for sexual shenanigans with a pigs head or something (oh, hang on, where have I heard that before?) but I did get a little tired of constantly hearing how absolutely wonderful everyone was. All of the presenters, not just the latest three, were paragons of TV presenting. Every member of the production crew were skilled and dedicated beyond the limits of mere mortals. Every star guest was so charming that you wanted them to be the godparent of your child. And even the BBC is expressed as an employer of such largesse and understanding as to be biblical. If you were hoping for a juicy tidbit of gossip about the private lives of any of the presenters or, for example, any of the very public 'shamings' of Mr Clarkson issued by the tabloid press with steady monotony, then you will be sorely disappointed. The harshest criticism expressed by Mr Porter is 'disappointed' and this is reserved for Ben Collins' unmarking as The Stig and Jeremy Clarkson's final attack on one of the staff that ended the show. I couldn't help thinking that Richard Porter, a freelance script editor whose 'permanent' posting to Top Gear has recently ended abruptly and who sees other, Amazon Prime, doors opening for the three presenters, would quite like to stay on the right side of folk in case there are any more jobs in the offing.Did I learn anything from this book? You bet! For example, I never really believed that the true identity of The Stig was really so rigorously protected and I imagined that the helmet only went on for filming; but now I know that I was wrong. And I really enjoyed the chapter describing the 'Best of British' programme because it remains one of my very favourite Top Gear shows. So, all in all, I enjoyed this book and, so long as you don't expect to be shocked, you will too.

Top Gear. The shining jewel of fun and delight that floated in a sea of mediocre merde that was the BBC programme schedule. Much missed ( even more, now the Grand Tour has changed format and lost the studio, er tent.) Mr Porter's book is an excellent read ( I devoured it in one sitting; yummy!)and adds great insight into the creation, development, success and early death of what is already recognized as some of the greatest tv ever made - it still looks as fresh today as when first it aired; a perfect British story - although he does miss out Jeremy 's " I was looking on the internet and I found this " spot. My son (6 years old) LOVES Top Gear, it's by far his favourite show - but only with Jeremy, Richard and James. Even more than Dinosaurs, which is saying a lot.Thanks for your book, Mr Porter - it's a great read, definitely worth buying!

Having been listening to the Smith and Sniff YouTube & podcasts for some time , I was interested to read more from the mastermind behind Top Gear through all those years (bad & good). Richard’s writing style is intelligent and witty, whilst the behind the scenes look at the stuffy suppression of corporate life at the BBC reminded me of so many other Woke organisations, the book presents a balanced ‘warts and all’ look at this most interesting journey. How different it could have been if ‘Jason’ hadn’t been fired or Clarkson threw it all away in a moment of foolishness/selfishness. “Some say that the format had run its course and needed a severe revision in format”.If you’re reading this Richard, I’d love to read your future creations, and an insight into life with Amazon on the Grand Tour would make interesting reading. Also looking forward to your book on strange car parts used in other cars (e.g. SD1 rear lights on Lotus Esprit and Cavalier rear lights on TVR - not to mention all the Volvo parts used in Aston Martins)!Thank you!

The truth shall set you free, I have watched a lot of TG and still rewatch the YouTube clips, but when I set about reading this book, I never expected to read the signature humour throughout that was always part of the compelling odyssey that was TG. Yes I was one of those that just accepted what I saw was indeed 3 friends mucking about and have a jolly good time, but now I realise the actual level of devotion it takes to make something about messing around A LOT look professional and appealing. Yes there were the ones that never sat quite so well, but I never had to part with large amounts of cash to sit back and enjoy them, unlike some films I’ve seen at the cinema that required selling a kidney to take the family, with no possibility of a refund after. The good far outweighed the bad bit a country mile. This book this author and his tales are like the ghost in the machine you know there something there but you can’t quite put your finger on it UNTIL NOW, And On That Bombshell