Top Gear presenters reinvent caravan holidays on visit to Northumberland
Northumberland is the setting for the next episode of BBC One’s Top Gear as it seeks to reinvent the great British camping holiday with the help of three new electric cars and three very small caravans.
Presenters Freddie Flintoff, Chris Harris and Paddy McGuinness filmed it in May, visiting Berwick’s Seaview Caravan Club site, Bamburgh, Seahouses, Kirkhale Farm and the upper Coquet Valley.
"We’re looking forward to watching the Northumberland episode of Top Gear,” said a spokesperson for Bamburgh Castle.
"We are big fans of the show and It was a pleasure to welcome Paddy McGuinness, Chris Harris and Andrew Flintoff and the Top Gear team to Bamburgh.
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"Their filming certainly caused a buzz amongst the community and we’re looking forward to seeing the programme and their adventures.”
The episode sees the presenters trying to spruce up caravanning’s image.
The programme blurb reveals: ‘The presenters each chose their favourite small, perfectly formed ‘micro-caravan’ to team with a state-of-the-art electric car, and set off for a peaceful getaway in the beautiful wilds of Northumberland. A peaceful getaway that somehow ended up including a Zorb-ball hillclimb… and a chilli-eating ‘hot lap’ challenge. Obviously.’
And it is the chilli-eating challenge which sticks in their mind.
“It was awful,” said Freddie. “I’ve toured the subcontinent so many times as a cricketer. Every time you come back home after that, your tolerance seems a bit higher. But I was completely out of my depth here.”
Chris added: “I kept thinking, ‘we have got to film all day tomorrow, we’re in the middle of a moor and we don’t have any facilities’. The next morning on that moor was a disaster. We were complaining non-stop about how we were feeling!”
And Paddy revealed it was his favourite moment of the series.
“I’m the worst person in the world with spice,” he said.
"I know the other two lads love the old chilli and really embrace hot food.
"I thought, “I’m not going to get anywhere here,” so I just sat back and watched them hurt themselves internally. And very amusing it was, too!
"That’s the most we’ve laughed this series. It’s a shame, because you don’t see most of that on the telly!”
Top Gear is on BBC One on Sunday, November 21 at 8pm and on BBC iPlayer.
