Top Gear’s STIG joins Dermot O’Leary in new BBC car show – The Getaway Car

A new BBC primetime car show – The Getaway Car – will be fronted by the X Factor’s Dermot O’Leary, with Top Gear’s Stig racing show contestants for cash prizes.

The BBC may have lost Messrs Clarkson, Hammond and May, but they own the format for Top Gear so they still have The Stig, and they’re rolling him out as the start driver in a new BBC primetime car show for Saturday evenings hosted by Dermot O’Leary.

The Getaway Car – as the Beeb has named the new show – will see couples competing in a set of driving challenges, challenges that will apparently Test the limits of their relationships’ as well as their driving skills.

The couples aren’t necessarily those in a ‘couple’ relationship, but include grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters or even just friends, with the promise of lots of laughter, action and challenges. Which does sound a bit like the pitch for most entertainment shows, just with Top Gear’s leftovers and Dermot gluing it together. We’ll see.

O’Leary said:

This is a show that’s really about relationships. We all think we are great drivers, but what tickled me most is seeing how people, who obviously love each other very much, speak to each other when they are behind the wheel of a car. It brings out the worst in all of us… but in a fun way. It’s a warm show that will stretch a family’s patience with those they love most in the world. I had a whale of a time doing the pilot and now can’t wait to make the series.

The Getaway Car won’t be broadcast until 2016, just like Chris Evans’ Top Gear and the Clarkson, Hammond and May show on Amazon.