Christopher James Evans was the British television presenter and producer for radio and television content for the BBC who briefly became the lead presenter on the BBC Two motoring show Top Gear for its twenty-third series. Previously known for presenting TFI Friday, The One Show, and his BBC Radio 2 show, Evans was hired as the new lead presenter on Top Gear early in 2015, taking the reigns from Jeremy Clarkson whose contract wasn't renewed due to an assault towards a member of the show's staff.
Evans was planned to be the show's host for three years, but quit the show after facing heavy scrutiny from fans and critics after his sole series. He was joined on the twenty-third series of Top Gear by Matt LeBlanc, racing driver Sabine Schmitz, YouTube star Chris Harris, F1 pundit Eddie Jordan and motoring journalist Rory Reid, all of whom continued in his absence.
Appearances and Work on Top Gear[]
Evans first appeared in the ninth episode of the show's sixth series, in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment. Evans set a time of 01:47.90 around the Top Gear test track in the show's reasonably priced car at the time, the Suzuki Liana. Evans later returned in the third episode of the show's fourteenth series in the SIARPC segment. On that occasion Evans set a time of 1:48.10, although this time he was using a Kia Cee'd and was running the course in the wet.
Evans has also appeared on the show outside of the SIARPC segment. Evans appeared in the seventh episode of the show's eighteenth series when he lent James May his rare Ferrari 250 GT California for a test drive.
Evans was the show's lead host for the show's twenty-third series, a total of six episodes. Evans featured prominently throughout all of these shows, being featured in the main films for each episode, completing the interviews for the SIARCC segment, and doing the voice-over work for the opening sequence of the show. However, though his contract was for three years of the show, Evans quit the show following the airing of the series twenty-three finale after weathering a storm of criticism from fans and critics alike.
Commenting on it later, James May was surprised and disappointed how things had turned out for Evans that culminated in his departure, having personally believed that Evans was going to be a good fit for Top Gear.
Legacy[]
Upon quitting, Evans became the shortest serving main host of the show's entire history since 1977, in addition to the shortest serving host of the 2002 reboot, with only six shows under his belt, succeeding Jason Dawe who presented just ten episodes of the show's first series before being replaced by James May. He also became just the third host in the show's post-2002 history to voluntarily quit the show, following Richard Hammond and James May's departure from the show the year earlier. He was replaced as the lead presenter on the show by Matt LeBlanc.
| Cast of Top Gear | |
|---|---|
| Present Cast | Chris Harris | Freddie Flintoff | Paddy McGuinness | The Stig |
| Former Cast (2002 format) | Sabine Schmitz | Eddie Jordan | Rory Reid | Matt LeBlanc | Chris Evans | James May | Richard Hammond | Jeremy Clarkson | Ben Collins | Top Gear Stunt Man | Top Gear Dog | Perry McCarthy | Jason Dawe |
| Former Cast (1977 format) | Andy Wilman | Jason Barlow | Tiff Needell | Vicki Butler-Henderson | Adrian Simpson | Quentin Willson | Kate Humble | Steve Berry | Julia Bradbury | Brendan Coogan | Tony Mason | Michele Newman | Jon Bentley | Chris Goffey | Janet Trewin | Nicky Fox | Steve Lee | William Woollard | Sue Baker | Beki Adam | Tom Boswell | Vic Allan | Frank Page | Peter Burgess | Bob Friend | Judith Jackson | Stewart Woodcock | Noel Edmonds | Mike Dornan | Gill Pyrah | Barrie Gill | Angela Rippon | Presenters with less than 5 appearances |