New Top Gear series filmed during pandemic to make debut on BBC One

Freddie Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris will make their BBC One debut on Sunday as the new series of Top Gear begins.
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The show has moved from BBC Two for the 29th series, which was filmed in the UK after the coronavirus pandemic scuppered any travel plans.

The trio had been spotted filming in Lancaster and Blackpool earlier this year.

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Harris previously told the PA news agency: “We’ve been going abroad doing increasingly outrageous things in crazy places for a long time.

Freddie Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris will make their BBC One debut on Sunday, October 4, 2020Freddie Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris will make their BBC One debut on Sunday, October 4, 2020
Freddie Flintoff, Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris will make their BBC One debut on Sunday, October 4, 2020

“I think it’s a good thing to reset, come back to the UK – it’s a British car show after all.”

He said: “To re-centre, come back to the UK, demonstrate how beautiful this country is and what variety of places and locations we’ve got is a good thing.

“And then hopefully, when a vaccine comes along and the world gets back to normal in a year’s time we go and do some more travelling.”

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Harris said the hosts were “over the moon” to discover the show had moved to BBC One.

“We feel like we’re on a bit of a roll at the moment. We’re happy,” he added.

The new series will also show McGuinness’s crash behind the wheel of a red Lamborghini Diablo.

The TV star made headlines in June when he lost control and skidded on oil on a wet road.

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Filming for the new series resumed in June, with the BBC confirming “strictly limited” crews would be used.

The trio left the customary studio hangar because of Covid-19 filming restrictions and instead hosted a 500-strong outdoor drive-in audience, in 160 cars, at the show’s famous race track in Dunsfold, Surrey.

Top Gear airs on BBC One at 8pm.

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