2015年经济学人 疯狂汽车秀 高辛烷值的滑稽（在线收听）

Top Gear

High-octane antics

Motormouth Jeremy Clarkson is suspended from the BBC's hit show

WHEN Jeremy Clarkson suggests switching off the VSC on a Toyota GT86 sports car to do better doughnuts around the “Top Gear” test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey,

his audience is more than likely to know what he is talking about.

That audience is huge: “Top Gear” is the world's most widely watched factual television programme, with more than 350m viewers in 214 countries.

That presents BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, with a problem, because on March 10th the broadcaster suspended Mr Clarkson for being involved in what it called a “fracas” with one of the show's producers.

The next episode will not be broadcast and another two may be dropped.

Mr Clarkson's satnav seems to steer him towards controversy. In May last year he said he had been given a final warning by the BBC after it was claimed that he had said “nigger” while reciting a rhyme during the filming of an earlier series.

In October 2014 the Top Gear crew had to flee from Argentina after being attacked by angry crowds during a road trip because the registration of a Porsche they were using appeared to refer to the date of the Falklands war.

The BBC says it is investigating the latest incident, which, according to some reports, involved Mr Clarkson throwing a punch in a row over a lack of food on an assignment.

“Top Gear” earns a good deal of money for BBC Worldwide and for its star.

The commercial rights to the series used to be controlled by a company called Bedder 6, a joint venture with BBC Worldwide,

and 30% owned by Mr Clarkson and 20% by Andy Wilman, an executive producer. The dividends from that company alone made Mr Clarkson a multimillionaire.

In 2012 the pair sold their shares to BBC Worldwide. Mr Clarkson is said to have received ￡8.4m ($12.6m) for his stake.

Mr Clarkson and the show's co-presenters, James May and Richard Hammond, are believed to have been negotiating new contracts with the BBC.

The politically correct and those who have found themselves the butt of Mr Clarkson's jokes—greens, truck drivers and Mexicans are among those on a long list—

would be happy to see him go. Some think Danny Cohen, the BBC's director of television, shares their feelings:

he hinted last year that he did not see the presenter as “untouchable”.

The BBC has a strong incentive to overlook Mr Clarkson's transgressions. But it is a bureaucratic machine that must try to please everybody,

because everybody pays for it. So it could be that commercial rivals such as ITV and Sky will be taking out their chequebooks to sign Mr Clarkson to present a rival series.

They would not be able to use the “Top Gear” brand, but whatever the contracts say it is Mr Clarkson who is the real franchise of this show.

An online petition in support of the presenter collected nearly 500,000 signatures in barely 24 hours.

Mr Clarkson might be seen as an overbearing joker, but that is precisely what his fans like.

And, petrolheads all, they know he is not afraid to call a new car rubbish if he thinks it is.