Greg Murphy Ready to Joust with Clarkson and Hammond at Top Gear Live

New Zealand motor racing legend Greg Murphy admits to being a little intimidated at the thought of being onstage with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond in the world’s biggest motoring stage show, but after seeing the show in Dublin and meeting the two presenters, he says he is excited and in awe of the spectacular event.

“The show is absolutely fantastic,” says Murphy. “Audience participation is huge with continuous cheers and jeers - they absolutely loved it.... they go mad! I’m still quite blown away,” he said.

Top Gear Live is ready to become a worldwide phenomenon, with Dublin being the third stop on a world tour of sell-out shows that see the show arrive here in February. Fuelled by the success of the television series Top Gear, the live stage moves up a gear in scale and theatricality, with precision driving, stunts, comedy and pyrotechnics. “Like Top Gear on steroids,” said one review.

“There is unbelievable driving,” says Murphy, “but the crowd also loves the interaction with Clarkson and Hammond in items such as the ‘Cool Wall’ where they get to argue their car preferences with the stars. Murphy’s role as the third presenter is pivotal to bring a local flavour to the show, and someone has to put up with the inevitable sheep jokes that he expects Clarkson to throw at him. “I’ll be the Kiwi there to be the butt of their humour,” he said, “but I’ll also certainly be able to throw a bit back at them as well.”

Murphy spent some time with Clarkson and Hammond while in Dublin and was astonished at their cult-like status over in the UK. “The reaction from the public is amazing,” says Murphy, “Clarkson and Hammond need constant security when you go out. These guys are rock stars in that part of the word.”

He also got to meet the infamous ‘Stig’ while he was over in Dublin – a high performance driver that is a feature of the Top Gear Live finale. The Stig never took his helmet off during the entire event as his identity is a strictly protected secret. “He has his little cage in the corner he sits in by himself when not on stage,” says Murphy. “He has a bit of a reputation for being temperamental, but we got on well.”

Murphy won’t be driving any race cars on stage but will take to the wheel in the ever-popular ‘Car Soccer’ which he expects will probably become an England vs New Zealand test match. When asked what state the cars end up at the end, he said, “there’s a bit of bump‘n‘grind but there is certainly some contact and really, anything can happen.”

Greg’s excitement about the show is obvious: “For someone who enjoys cars, to be working with people who’ve made a massive career out of being involved with cars is just great. They’re doing what every Kiwi man would love to do – spending their days being lunatics in cars, coming up with ludicrous stunts - how blokey is that? And they’re getting paid to do it!

“To be a part of that is very special – and something great to have on the CV.”

Tickets are on sale from www.ticketek.co.nz

For more information please visit www.topgearnz.co.nz

Show Dates:

Thurs 12th - 6.30pm

Friday 13th - 5pm & 8pm

Saturday 14th - 11am, 2pm, 5pm & 8pm

Sunday 15th - 11am, 2pm & 5pm

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About Top Gear Live

Top Gear Live is a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Brand Events UK.

The live motoring performance incorporates the drama of film and theatre with the thrills and spills of stunts and special effects. Presenters Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond team up with a local presenter in each tour destination. The tour is on course to play to a total worldwide audience of over 300,000 with a further tour planned for 2009 which is earmarked to include Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Russia.

About BBC Worldwide

BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The company exists to maximise the value of the BBC’s assets for the benefit of the licence payer and invest in public service programming in return for rights. The company has seven core businesses: BBC Worldwide Channels, BBC Worldwide Content & Production, BBC Worldwide Digital Media, BBC Worldwide Global Brands, BBC Worldwide Sales & Distribution, BBC Magazines and BBC Home Entertainment. In 2007/08, BBC Worldwide generated profits of £117.7million on sales of £916.3million.

Brand Events UK

Brand Events was formed in 1999 and has launched some of the UK’s most popular shows including MPH, featuring Jeremy Clarkson, The Outdoors and Vitality shows and more recently the Taste Festivals series of events. The 'Taste' format runs in seven cities throughout the UK and Ireland and locations around the world including Johannesburg, Dubai and Sydney. In 2009 Taste will run in 19 different cities around the world.