Top Gear fans sat shaking their heads in disbelief on Sunday night, as they watched a bumbling James May crash a bizarre caravan zeppelin into a field, shortly after being chased out of Norwich airport airspace by a police helicopter.
Alas, it appears much of it was faked.
Professionals who were involved in the stunt - which may or may not have included a dinosaur - say there was a professional airship pilot at the controls of the caravan, taking over from May for any difficult manoeuvres... including the 'crash'.
They also claim that far from straying over Norwich airport, provoking police to intervene, show producers had requested airport clearance to stage the scene, hired the 999 helicopter and even taken the airship there on the back of a truck.
Hoping to defuse any claims of BBC fakery a spokesperson said: "As an entertainment programme, Top Gear prides itself on making silly films that don't pretend to represent real life. Any suggestion it deliberately misled viewers is patently ludicrous."
Check out the footage, after the jump.
Check out the footage, after the jump.
Comments:
Add a comment
Thursday 03 December
By Oncewas12
This show is in steep decline - May is semi-detached, Clarkson is semi-deranged, and the little one is about all thats left. Time to pull it.
Reply
Thursday 03 December
By John
Come along now. It is a fun programme. You don't have to watch it do you. Perhaps Big Brother is more to your liking. Anyone with a bit of sense must realise that the cameras cannot be everywhere at the same time. May flying from Italy to beat a car for instance. He could have won easily.One shot in fine sunshine and then cloudy and rain the next. Norwich airport would have had a fit with the Blimp but they obviously were very good sports. A credit to them! They should have been given praise I feel.I doubt May has a licence for a hot air airship either.
I look forward to the show despite the tongue in cheek escapades. Whatever will they do next may I ask.
John
Thursday 03 December
By Iain Drummond
Why don't you stick to watching strictly come dancing it is obviously about the only TV your tiny brain can manage!
Thursday 03 December
By Si Tarrant
Oh Come on It's a Laugh its UN Pc thankfully and they take the micky out of the public/ the Celebs( whatever that is ) and each other. Show us fantastic cars that many will never be able to afford and do it with wry wit. Get a sense of humour or stick to watching fifth gear.
Thursday 03 December
By Kim
James May's Airship/Caravan 'crash landed' at Eltissley Cambridgeshire/
Thursday 03 December
By Dave
I think most of the viewers of this program must also be Sun readers
Thursday 03 December
By Heather Needham
bet you wish you were a tenth as popular, funny and rich for that matter! I do
Thursday 03 December
By the stig
there is allways the on off button you dont have to watch perhaps you should stay listening to the ARCHERS
Friday 04 December
By james d marshall
Top Gear is rubbish and those petrol heads are to, watching that over grown school boy Clarkson using your money to play with gas guzzling car's that are by far and away out of reach financialy for the general public, and the meaaage from the scientists save the world? "go green" is clarkson passing on that message?
Thursday 03 December
By Gedmond
top gear is the best show around. two blokes and one child (hammond) make some of the best shows around you saying that clarkson and may are rubbish is stupid cause is humour and interesting at the same time
Saturday 05 December
By david
get a life you sad person and carry on watching your soaps
Thursday 03 December
By beeeze
please does anybody really belive that anything these guys do on top gear is 'real life', some how i think the show would have been banned and presenters arrested and thrown in jail by now if they really were doing all these silly stunts them selfs !!!!
very funny tho !!!!
Reply
Thursday 03 December
By Ben
The reason people believe Topgear's features and reports is the fact that it is and always has been presented as factual- if we're to listen to people who say " how can anyone believe such features are real" then by the same token why should we believe anything on the show is anything other than make-believe? are their car reviews to be believed or should we just think of them as fictional? the mixture of fact and fantasy is silly, childish & confusing.Its like someone who sometimes tells the truth and sometimes lies - you end up not believing a word they say!
Thursday 10 December
By DavidM
However rubbishy it is the show is consistently entertaining - think of it as competing with a sitcom, compare it with Porridge or Steptoe and Son - or with the new circus sitcom disaster! which will make you realise just how professional Top Gear is! It's just light relief, with a few nuggets of genuine car interest to flavour the mix.
Thursday 03 December
By Eugene
Top Gear is constantly a great programme, funny, innovative, quirky, and continues to pull in the viewers in droves - partly due to Jeremy Clarkson's finesse in ignoring the straighjacket of political correctness. Programmes have got worse, by and large, but Top Gear is an exception.
Keep it up!!!!
Reply
Thursday 03 December
By jean
Nobody watching the programme would seriously have imagined that the airport scenes were anything other than set up...would they? That they used a professional for the crash is no surprise. The fun was in seeing a caravan underneath an airship....
Reply
Thursday 03 December
By Jacqui Youde
OF COURSE they were faked..how thick do people think we are if they thought we would take it as real, for goodness sake just ENJOY..extremely funny, keep it up guys !!!
Thursday 03 December
By JON
How a programme about three Peter Pan petrol heads who will never grow up can hold an audience of thousands says more about the intelligence of the audience than the Peter Pans. Three unintelligent speedsters who will kill themselves sooner or later [one has already had a warning]are not entertainment.
Reply
Thursday 03 December
By Trevor
well why do you watch it, you know where the off button is, if you dont like it turn it of.
Thursday 03 December
By Lee
Reply to JON:
These guys are the best entertainment tv has to offer! I`m sure if the stunt could have really been performed then they would have been the first people to carry it through - but unfortunately we live in a country full of politically correct boring people such as yourself. So what gives you your kicks? Big Brother, Strictly come Dancing, I`m a celebrity? or perhaps another pc uninteligent tv program?
Its because of people like you this country is in such a sad and sorry state and we are not allowed to do or watch anything that could resemble excitement without some idiot piping up about health and safety and picking out all possible negatives. Without you we could have flying cars as well as super cars and other interesting toys for us to enjoy and get the most out of.
Isn`t that what life is about?