Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear
Open screen logo (2005–2016)
Genre	Motoring
Directed by	Phil Hawkins Mark McQueen
Presented by	Tiff Needell Vicki Butler-Henderson Tom Ford Adrian Simpson Quentin Willson Jason Plato Jonny Smith
Theme music composer	John F Calone
Opening theme	"Prize Fight"
Composer(s)	David Lowe
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	26
No. of episodes	237 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Richard Pearson
Producer(s)	Jim McMullan
Location(s)	Ace Cafe (2006–08) Millbrook Proving Ground (2008–09) Various (2010–15)
Editor(s)	Mike Bloore Mike Brown Martin Dowell James Hay Steve Killick Leigh Nicholls Tony Quinsee-Jover Peter Shannon
Running time	30 minutes (2002–05, 2010–11) 45 minutes (2005) 60 minutes (2006–09, 2012–15)
Production company(s)	North One
Distributor	All3Media
Release
Original network	Five (2002–11) Discovery (2012–14) History (2015) ITV4 (2015–16)
Picture format	16:9
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	8 April 2002 – 24 May 2016
External links
Website

Fifth Gear is a British motoring television magazine series. Originally shown on Channel 5 from 2002 to 2011. From 2012 until 2015, the show was only available on limited distribution platforms such as Discovery from 2012 to 2014 and History in 2015. In 2015, the show moved to ITV4, returning to Freeview for the first time in four years after it ended on Channel 5 in 2011. The show is currently presented by Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson and Jonny Smith.

Fifth Gear was first broadcast on 8 April 2002 as 5th Gear, and as a continuation of the original incarnation of the BBC show Top Gear, which was cancelled in 2001. Top Gear was relaunched later that year; Channel 5 originally wanted to carry on using the Top Gear name, but the BBC refused. Several of Top Gear's ex-presenters, including Quentin Willson, Tiff Needell, and Vicki Butler-Henderson, were hired by Channel 5 to present the series. The show's name was restyled as Fifth Gear in 2005. Needell announced the show's second cancellation on 24 May 2016 due to lack of funding.

Repeats of Fifth Gear also started being broadcast on UKTV channel Dave in April 2008 and later on Discovery Turbo.

The first seven series consisted of a 23-minute programme, not including approximately 7 minutes of adverts. The eighth series returned in the autumn of 2005 in a longer format of 45 minutes, and the ninth series (which went to a 13-week run) was increased to a one-hour airtime slot (approximately 46 minutes excluding adverts). For series 17, the show has reverted to the original format of 23 minutes, which including adverts takes the show to half an hour. In Series 21, the show reverted to the previous one-hour airtime slot.