Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear
Default20022003 The Fifth Gear logo used since 2005. Numeral 5th Gear logo used only during 2002. Fifth Gear logo used during the 30 minute episode era.
Episodes	272
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, produced by North One Television since its inception. 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 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 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 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 in April of 2002 and recycle much of the format that the outgoing Top Gear had employed. Contemporary public reception 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 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 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.

For the first seven series, Fifth Gear was based at an unnamed office in Birmingham, likely near their earlier place of employ at Pebble Mill, and was otherwise filmed on-location. From Series 8, the programme became partly studio-based at the Ace Cafe near Wembley in London.

Series overview

272 episodes would air in total between 2002 and 2019 across 28 total series, including specials such as those made for James Bond and The Italian Job, in addition to end of series compilation specials.

Presenters

From the programme's inception, Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson were Fifth Gear's joint lead hosts, with Quentin Willson the first to officially join. Tom Ford would be the programme's first new hire, debuting in the fifth episode. From there, the team of five would stabilise, with the occasional on-screen appearance from producer Jon Bentley, before Simpson's departure at the end of Series 6 and Willson following not long thereafter. The team would then continue to operate as a quintet thanks to the addition of former Driven host Jason Plato through to 2006's Series 10, where they were then joined by Jonny Smith and Tim Lovejoy. Lovejoy's role on the programme wouldn't last long, and in Series 14, Tim Shaw joined until the programme's 2009 cancellation. Both Shaw and Ford would be absent from the 2010 revival, Ford in order to fully focus on his obligations for BBC's Top Gear, eventually being "rewarded" as lead host for the shortlived BBC America run of Top Gear America.

From 2010 through to the first year of its 2018 revival, a period comprising 11 series and 96 episodes, the presenting team did not change between Needell, Butler-Henderson, Smith or Plato. 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. In his place arrived Jimmy de Ville and former F1 driver Karun Chandhok for the final series of traditional Fifth Gear in 2019.

An unusually high proportion of presenters with the male given name "Timothy" would serve as host throughout; it is both the original birth name of Tiff Needell and Jason Plato (with Jason being the latter's middle name), in addition to being the names of later hires Tim Lovejoy and Tim Shaw.

Timeline of presenters

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