Author(s): Richard Porter

Something for Him

For 13 years, 22 series and 175 shows, Richard Porter was script editor of Top Gear, from the first faltering pilot episode in 2002 until the very last show presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May in 2015. Along the way they destroyed cars, sparked diplomatic incidents, set fire to caravans, almost killed one of the presenters, and somehow transformed Top Gear from a shabby BBC Two motoring show into an Emmy-winning, record-breaking, planet-straddling behemoth. And On That Bombshell tells stories from behind the scenes of one of the world's most successful television programmes, taking in driving monkeys, broken bones, flying cars, angry rednecks and Jeremy Clarkson's secret nickname. Richard Porter provides a unique insight into how the programmes was made, revealing behind-the-scenes disasters more comical than anything seen on screen, and explaining what it was like to work inside the self-professed 'poky motoring show' that accidentally became a global phenomenon.