Fifth Gear
| Fifth Gear | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Episodes | 265 |
| First aired | 2002 |
| Country of origin |
 Great Britain |
| Status | No longer airing |
| Concluded | 2019 |
For the programme which has aired since 2021, see Fifth Gear: Recharged.
Fifth Gear is the name of an automotive-themed intellectual property created by Richard Pearson in 2001 and aired during three separate tenures between 2002 and 2019. It has been adapted to a television format multiple times in its native United Kingdom, in addition to subsequent international versions that were made once the programme had proven itself a success in the early 2000s.
After original host Quentin Willson departed Top Gear in late 2000, he would spend the successive year as an independent journalist, uncovering[1] a major international car fraud involving the sale of Japanese cars in the UK by proxy of Dubai. That August, Top Gear would announce its cancellation[2] after 23 years on the air. In light of this news, three of Top Gear's then-current hosting team, comprised of lead presenter Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson and Adrian Simpson all chose to defect[3] to rival broadcaster Channel 5, the team meeting up with former Top Gear producer Pearson after the latter had successfully persuaded the estranged Willson on the idea. The resultant programme, rechristened as Fifth Gear, would premiere[4] in April of 2002 and recycle much of the format that the outgoing Top Gear had employed. Contemporary public reception[5] to this new series was largely positive.
Later on, the programme was joined by two-time BTCC champion Jason Plato, who had previously worked for Channel 4's since-cancelled Driven, along with the presenting duo of Jonny Smith and Tom Ford. Simpson and Willson would eventually depart the series, and Tim Shaw would also briefly join the presenting team for the programme's fourteenth series in 2008.
Format
Originally, Fifth Gear was very similar to Top Gear, but as time progressed, developed more distinct characteristics, such as its famed Shoot-Outs between two cars of a similar type. For the first seven series, the show aired in a 23 minute format, before doubling to a 45 minute format in 2005. Fifth Gear then lasted through to its sixteenth series in 2009 in this format, before Channel 5 cancelled[6] the programme at the end of that year. This cancellation was brief, and the programme was relaunched the subsequent Summer back in its original 23 minute format, with less time spent on more dramatic stunts and a heightened focus on automotive journalism. Fifth Gear lasted four series in this format as part of a renewed two-year contract with the network, until late 2011, when the programme was shuttled off to Discovery[7] in 2012, returning to a 45 minute format from its twenty-first series onwards. The programme would move once again to the History Channel in 2015, before being cancelled. Fifth Gear went into hiatus for three years before being revived in 2018 by Discovery channel Quest, where it returned one final time for its twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth series.
Series overview
265 episodes would air in total between 2002 and 2019 across 28 total series. Of the programme's hosts, Vicki Butler-Henderson remained the only host to have starred in every series. Tiff Needell appeared in the first 27 series until his unexpected firing a year into Discovery's ownership of the IP.
Timeline of presenters
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