VA
I was involved with the 2019 series at Dunsfold. The 'Star in a Car' track bits were shot during the morning. The audience were shoved into the 'studio' at 13:30, recording started at 14:00 hrs, and ended 17:30 to 18:00 ish. The audience were more or less shown the films in the same order as the final transmitted version.
What soaks up the time?
I know in the Clarkson/Hammond/May years, the news segment could run to well over half an hour, and Jeremy with the right guest could use up another 30 minutes - but for something which is pretty much a 6 link recording and showing the inserts, 3 1/2+ hours to record really does seem overly excessive. It's not like there are tricky camera angles to set up, and a set restrike halfway through.
From speaking with people who worked on the CHM years: no autocue (unlike some of the more recent series) so a fair number of re-takes when someone inevitably said something wrong; lots of moving audience around to allow for links in different areas of the studio; lots of chat with the audience in the CHM years (perhaps more so than in the more recent series); things like the narration over laps were typically done live I believe and that could easily fill up time if they messed up slightly.
I was involved with the 2019 series at Dunsfold. The 'Star in a Car' track bits were shot during the morning. The audience were shoved into the 'studio' at 13:30, recording started at 14:00 hrs, and ended 17:30 to 18:00 ish. The audience were more or less shown the films in the same order as the final transmitted version.
What soaks up the time?
I know in the Clarkson/Hammond/May years, the news segment could run to well over half an hour, and Jeremy with the right guest could use up another 30 minutes - but for something which is pretty much a 6 link recording and showing the inserts, 3 1/2+ hours to record really does seem overly excessive. It's not like there are tricky camera angles to set up, and a set restrike halfway through.
From speaking with people who worked on the CHM years: no autocue (unlike some of the more recent series) so a fair number of re-takes when someone inevitably said something wrong; lots of moving audience around to allow for links in different areas of the studio; lots of chat with the audience in the CHM years (perhaps more so than in the more recent series); things like the narration over laps were typically done live I believe and that could easily fill up time if they messed up slightly.