James May's Big Ideas

The renaissance of Top Gear has been a huge success story for the BBC. Buoyed on by Richard Hammond's dice with death and the never-ending popularity for "out-spoken" imbecile Jeremy Clarkson, the series has gone from strength to strength by eschewing the actual technology of the cars on show and instead bringing lad's mag repartee to the fore.

James May (who often looks and absolutely sounds like a young Clarkson) has developed a few other TV shows and this Big Idea triumvirate of programmes, co-funded by The Open University (in common with his earlier James May's Twentieth Century) is very much more of the same for those starved of another Top Gear Christmas compilation DVD. It’s interesting to note that none of the shows focus on the ramifications that the “Big Ideas” featured on the series has on the environment, but I guess that’s all part of the contract May has with the Top Gear boys’ club and he wouldn’t want to be weighed down with such ecological quandaries.

The three shows - Personal Transport (which in reality is solely flying), Robotics and Energy - are hour-long jollies which see May jumping between continents with alarming regularity. The science on show is often fascinating, yet is bogged down by the typical "is this the new way I will be getting to the pub?" banter and some insufferable "can I have a go?" attitude in the face of the experts who have been roped in to showing the floppy-haired fop their life’s-work. Yet whilst he admirably wishes to ape Palin, in some of his globe-trotting antics there is none of the easy rapport and genuine fascination that the ex-Python imbues his travelogues with.



Released on DVD on 22nd June 2009 by Demand DVD.

Written by Simon Cole.