Fifth Gear Europe (partially lost Discovery Channel Europe motoring series; 2009)

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Fifth Gear Europe.jpg

The show's title card.

Status: Partially Lost

Fifth Gear Europe was a European television show broadcast throughout 2009 on the European versions of the Discovery Channel, in addition to German television channel DMAX[1], the latter's airings occurring over the Summer of that year. Despite being designed for the European market, it was filmed and broadcast in English, much like its parent show Fifth Gear.

History

Fifth Gear premiered[2] in the UK on Channel 5 in April of 2002. In 2008, after debuting[3] on German television channel DMAX, it was decided[4] that the program was to expand into Mainland Europe in order to compete[5] with the BBC's Top Gear, which had had massive worldwide success, and film crews were spotted[6] by Swedish blogger Soren Fjellstedt in October that year. Presenters Tom Ford and Jonny Smith[7] were retained from the British version of the show and were joined by various automotive journalists from Europe such as Tim Schrick, Frank Jacobs and Anette Latva Piikkilä. Of these, Jacobs would upload segments featuring himself to Youtube in 2015 and feature[8] them on his personal website, although these were later privatized. It would then premiere[9] in the Netherlands on February 21st, 2009.

Episodes

In total, ten episodes of Fifth Gear Europe were produced. In its original airing territory of The Netherlands and later on in Germany, it appears two episodes aired on the same night each week, as the 5th episode had already aired by March 7th, 2009. The show also premiered in Norway on March 28th, 2009.

Episode Dutch Airdate German Airdate Synopsis Status
1 21/02/2009 22/07/2009 Formula Off-Road, Porsche Cayman vs. Audi TT-S, Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé. Found
2 21/02/2009 22/07/2009 The new VW Golf, ZIL limousine, KTM X-Bow. Lost
3 28/02/2009 29/07/2009 Maserati Quattroporte, Citroen C1, tractor pulling, Bruno Senna. Found
4 28/02/2009 29/07/2009 Citroen Conservatory, Think City electric car, bio-diesel. Found
5 07/03/2009 05/08/2009 Volvo XC60, Citroen C4 off-road toughness test, Paris Motor Show, Fiat 500 Abarth. Found
6 Unknown 05/08/2009 Infiniti G37, Colorado RS concept car, Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4. Found
7 Unknown 12/08/2009 Ferrari California, VW Scirocco vs. BMW 125i, Dacia: The new "people's car"? Found
8 Unknown 12/08/2009 Toyota Landcruisers modified by Arctic Trucks, Alfa Romeo MiTo, Spyker. Found
9 Unknown 19/08/2009 The new Porsche 911, largest dealership in Europe, Renault Twingo power test, Gallery Aaldering. Found
10 Unknown 19/08/2009 The new Ford Ka, Rinspeed concept cars, the new Lancia Delta, Abu Dhabi F1 circuit. Found

Preservation Status

Fifth Gear Europe appears to have re-aired[10] on DMAX and in the Netherlands[11] on the Dutch Discovery Channel as recently as 2012. Of the 10 episodes, only a handful of clips remain of Fifth Gear Europe. At one point in time, they were available[12] for viewing on Amazon Prime, however, the service has since lost the license to this series. As a result, the show is now considered lost due to its short run, lack of syndication and lack of home video media.

Starting from November 21st, 2023, the official Fifth Gear YouTube channel uploaded the Fifth Gear Europe series onto their channel. With the exception of 1 unpublished episode, namely the 2nd episode, the rest of the episodes have been uploaded online as of February 2024.

Videos

Trailer for the series.

Tractor-pulling segment.

BMW 7-Series review.

Gallery

See Also

Discovery Channel

Discovery Kids

Hub Network

Science Channel

References