FIFTH GEAR

'''Fifth Gear''' (formerly '5th Gear') is a motoring magazine show on British television channel Five. The programme began its eleventh season on 30 April 2007.
''Fifth Gear'' first aired in 2002 as a replacement to the original incarnation of the BBC show ''Top Gear'', which was cancelled in 2001 due to low ratings. Five originally wanted to carry on using the ''Top Gear'' name, however the BBC refused. Several of ''Top Gear's'' ex-presenters, including Quentin Willson, Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson were hired by Five to present ''Fifth Gear''. After the completion of ''Fifth Gear's'' first series, the BBC relaunched ''Top Gear'' in a new hour-long format presented by Jeremy Clarkson.

Show Format

The original format consisted of a 30 minute programme, including approximately 7 minutes of adverts. The eighth season returned in the autumn of 2005 in a longer format of 45 minutes, and the ninth series (which went to a 13-week run) was increased to a one hour airtime slot (approximately 46 minutes excluding adverts). Besides giving out a car in each episode, ''Fifth Gear'' is distinguishable from the current ''Top Gear'' in that it is typically less outrageous and more of a straightforward motoring show.
The tenth season, in addition to the arrival of Soccer AM's Tim Lovejoy as one of the main presenters, saw the introduction of filming the feature sections at the Ace Cafe in London, rather than the previous format of filming the links between features in the production company's offices in Birmingham.
The 11th season saw Tom Ford replace Tim Lovejoy as main presenter alongside Vicki Butler Henderson.

Viewing Figures

According to BARB [1] viewing figures for October 2006, ''Fifth Gear'' averaged around 0.9 million viewers and is about the 20th most popular programme on Five, ignoring repeats. In comparison, similar figures for the summer 2006 series of ''Top Gear'' were approx 4.5 million viewers, and it was almost consistently the most popular programme on BBC2 by a margin of up to 1.2 million, aside from two weeks when it was placed second to closing episodes of ''The Apprentice''.

The ''Fifth Gear'' awards

Each year, the programme gives out various awards:

2006

★ Car of the year – Audi TT

★ Best small car – MINI Cooper S

★ Best family car – Citroen C4 Picasso

★ Best fast car – Chevrolet Corvette Z06

2005

★ Car of the year – Porsche Boxster

★ Best small car – Ford Fiesta ST

★ Best family car – Honda Civic

★ Best fast car – BMW M5

2004

★ Car of the year – Volkswagen Golf GTI

★ Best small car – BMW 1-Series

★ Best family car – Ford Focus

★ Best fast car – Porsche 911 Carrera S

Shoot Outs

''Fifth Gear'' claims to be 'world renowned' for their 'infamous' shoot outs, between similarly priced, similarly powerful cars, or, recently, cars versus bikes. These shoot outs take place at the Ty Croes circuit on the Isle of Anglesey.

2002 (Seasons 1 and 2)

★ Ford Focus RS vs. Honda Civic Type-R vs. SEAT León Cupra R

2003 (Seasons 3 and 4)

★ BMW Z4 3.0i vs. Porsche Boxster

★ Radical SR3 vs. Ariel Atom

★ Nissan 350Z vs. Audi TT 3.2 Quattro

★ BMW M3 CSL vs. BMW M3

External links

★ ''Fifth Gear'' at five.tv

★ FinalGear.com - ''Fifth Gear'' fansite

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FIFTH GEAR

Show Format

Viewing Figures

The ''Fifth Gear'' awards

2006

2005

2004

Shoot Outs

2002 (Seasons 1 and 2)

2003 (Seasons 3 and 4)

2004 (Seasons 5 and 6)

2005 - Season 7

2005 - Season 8

2006 - Season 9

2007 - Season 9

External links

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