American actor and Top Gear host Matt LeBlanc, who was in Dubai over the weekend to film a segment for the 24th season of the BBC's beleaguered motoring show, is in the hot seat.
While details of the Top Gear shoot in the UAE remains under wraps, sources with knowledge of the production said that LeBlanc will be featured as part of a plot where Top Gear's presenters (including Chris Harris and Rory Reid) will race from Oman to the UAE using cars, yachts and planes.
The show is in town only a month after former presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, hosted the finale of their rival show The Grand Tour in their studio tent under the Burj Khalifa.
Let’s hope that LeBlanc has his eyes set firmly on the future, because, let’s face it, season 23 was a disaster.
Once one of the most-watched television shows on the planet, Top Gear went into free fall after former presenter Clarkson left in March 2015, taking with him co-hosts and buddies May and Hammond.
British radio personality Chris Evans and LeBlanc were hired, alongside fellow petrol heads Reed, Harris, Sabine Schmitz and Eddie Jordan, to lead 2016’s six-part series, but it did nothing to save the show.
After a dismal pilot, where Evans was universally panned for his screechy Clarkson impression, the show drew fewer and fewer viewers with each episode.
The lack of chemistry between Evans and LeBlanc, format changes and lacklustre car reviews were blamed for what critics and the audiences viewed as a lemon of a series.
The fact that Top Gear was broadcast at the same time as the UEFA Euro tournament didn't help, and the season finale was watched by only 1.9 million viewers – the lowest in the programme's history.
Evans quit a day after the final broadcast, and it is now left to LeBlanc to steer the programme back on track, this time with the help of Harris and Reed as co-hosts.
To understand the magnitude of this challenge requires a close look at The Grand Tour, because it is Top Gear's destiny to be inextricably linked with the men who made the BBC show famous in the first place.
Top Gear became a worldwide phenomenon because of the camaraderie between Clarkson, May and Hammond.
It was not so much a motoring show, but three ageing friends playing idiotic tricks on each other, blowing up stuff, and racing around the world in supercars. The Grand Tour pretty much follows the same formula, with the programme helmed by ex-Top Gear producer Andy Wilman and a formidable budget of £160 million (Dh737.6 mn) – four times the amount they had on Top Gear.
When it launched on Amazon Prime in November last year, The Grand Tour became the streaming site's most-watched show.
By December, it was named the world's most illegally-downloaded television programme, according to Muso, data analysts for the piracy market, and beat dramas such as Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead.
Importantly, The Grand Tour, whose premise involves test-driving luxury cars as well as doing inexplicable things such as building coral reefs in Barbados, has stayed faithful to their original Top Gear format.
Car reviews, track laps, the news, celebrity appearances, crazy stunt specials – they are all there, because, why mess with a good thing?
Of course, each segment has been rebranded to avoid copyright issues with the BBC.
So The News, in Top Gear for example, has been named Conversation Street in The Grand Tour, during which the trio indulge their pet peeves, from chocolate to speeding fines. In Celebrity Braincrash, the stars supposed to appear on the show are killed off in unfortunate accidents.
Over the years, the personalities of the hosts have taken on caricature-like dimensions, brought into sharper focus by their escapades.
So, Clarkson is a "shaved ape in a shirt", May is a by-the-book slowpoke who would make an excellent history professor, while Hammond is an impulsive dandy. Their friendship is their winning formula. It is what made their stint with Top Gear special, and it is why The Grand Tour – despite the three presenters' abhorrently non-politically correct stance – is a hit.
Until the new Top Gear comes up with a chemistry of its own, it will continue to be dwarfed by The Grand Tour.
• Watch the final episode of The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime on Friday. For details, visit www.primevideo.com
artslife@thenational.ae
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Genesis G80 2020 5.0-litre Royal Specs
Engine: 5-litre V8
Gearbox: eight-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 505Nm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.4L/100km
Price: Dh260,500
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
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Price: From Dh650,000
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
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1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
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Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
Bio
Age: 25
Town: Al Diqdaqah – Ras Al Khaimah
Education: Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering
Favourite colour: White
Favourite place in the UAE: Downtown Dubai
Favourite book: A Life in Administration by Ghazi Al Gosaibi.
First owned baking book: How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.
