User:Chrizman/TopGearGTi

Top Gear GTi is a British Motoring Television Programme that ran for four series between September 1999 and May 2001 and was an extension of the main programme, Top Gear (1977 TV Series), but instead featured material that didn't make it to the final cut of the series, much like the revived series' Top Gear Xtra. Due to this fact, it never had a main set of presenters, however, Vicki Butler-Henderson made a large amount of appearances throughout the run, suggesting she could have been in many more segments than was originally intended. Other appearances were made by Steve Berry, Tiff Needell and Jason Barlow in the later seasons. Unlike Top Gear, Top Gear GTi had a slot on UK Horizons instead of the BBC and was broadcast at various times throughout the week on an evening timeslot.

Show Format
All series of Top Gear GTi featured either extended or completely new material that was not seen in the main programme, possibly due to issues such as time constraints. As always, the programme was of a Motoring Magazine format and featured numerous articles including Motorshows and Electric Car tests. Episodes lengths depended entirely on how large the material was, and it is predicted that episode lengths were around 10 to 15 minutes, with a commercial break in between, using Top Gear GTi as more of a filler programme rather than an actual ongoing concern. The show was broadcast Friday through Monday, with no episodes broadcast on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.

Demise
Top Gear GTi finished around seven months before the time that Top Gear finished, the main series continuing until the end of 2001, with a one-off special being presented by Jason Barlow in early 2002. The show was never a commercial sucess and presumably lead to dips in viewing figures on the upcoming primetime timeslots. The extra was stopped when, in the final series of Top Gear, the show filled the remaining series' episodes with material for a possible 5th season of Top Gear GTi, thus eliminating the need for another season. The show was therefore not a viable programme to keep on air and finished along with Top Gear in December 2001.

Controversy
It has been stated that Top Gear GTi began and finished some time around 2002/2003. If this were so, the format would have been refreshed along with the rest of the presenters featured. This is not the case, as Top Gear GTi never lasted into 2002, the series ending in the previous year. It has also been mentioned that many of the Top Gear presenters got involved with Top Gear GTi. This is highly unlikely, by 2000, the presenting line-up numbers for the main show were dwindling, and in the final years, only about 5 full-time presnters remained. Many of the well-known presenters from the 90's had left even before this show began, so it is most likely that Top Gear GTi ran from 1999 to 2001, as confirmed on a Vicki Butler-Henderson fan page which gives an incomplete list of the episodes.