Evans ‘moving on’ after Top Gear exit

Chris Evans has dedicated his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show to his former Top Gear colleagues.

After paying tribute to “all the Top Gear gang”, he said: “Today’s show is entitled Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”

The presenter announced he was stepping down from the BBC Two motoring show on Monday.

Explaining his decision on Twitter, he said he had given it his best shot, “but sometimes that’s not enough”.

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Evans briefly referenced his departure again on Tuesday’s radio show while reading out the day’s newspaper headlines, many of which referenced Top Gear.

He said: “It’s all true, but of course there was another high-profile, much more important resignation yesterday that doesn’t make some of the front pages, and that’s Nigel Farage stepping down from a very influential political party that had a lot to do with the EU referendum last week or the week before.”

Newspaper TV critics have been dissecting Evans’ decision to leave the programme, with most agreeing it was an inevitable conclusion.

The Daily Mirror’s Nicola Methven said: “[Evans] was an out-of-control diva more volatile than [Jeremy] Clarkson. He was too shouty. The audience were being forced to laugh. The real problem, of course, was that the BBC Two audience didn’t take to it.”

The Sun claimed the presenter’s role “was a car crash from the very start”.

“The main attraction is meant to be presenters and the sense of humour and attitude. Chris Evans will go down as the Davie Moyes of Top Gear,” Ally Ross said, referencing the football manager who had to take over Manchester United after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Meanwhile, The Independent offered an opinion on a replacement for Evans: “We would like to suggest another candidate: Steve Coogan, who has the combination of charisma, wit and insight that Top Gear really needs to get itself back into pole position. In that, but nothing else, he reminds us of another previous star of the show.”

Evans joined Top Gear last June after the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

Speaking to BBC News, racing driving Perry McCarthy said he thought Evans “hadn’t quite gelled with the show” and the revamped series had problems from the first episode.

“The first show was terrible – it was really bad and I was incredibly surprised they didn’t produce a better return show,” he said.

“I don’t know what they were thinking, many of their features were way too long, the edit was bad, the gags were very weak… there was no real substance there and you can’t keep putting style over content.

“But since [then] they really got their act together and it’s turning out to be a good TV show again. Maybe Chris should have given it a little bit longer.”

BBC