It was always going to be a tough gig, that’s a fact. We all know that sequels are generally rubbish, (with the obvious exception of Die Hard of course…), books are usually better than the movie and re-makes rarely live up to the original. Making a colonial version of the world’s most popular motoring show, with presenters akin to Gods, is like making a Die Hard sequel without Bruce.

Five weeks into the first season of Top Gear Australia and the audience has more than halved, with last Monday night’s episode rating 32nd nationally with an audience of 435,000 people. So what’s going wrong?

The inevitable comparison to the legend that is Top Gear UK has been made (over… and over…), and the Aussie version has been found wanting by many fans of the original. There are no two ways about it.

In reality, the Aussie version should be judged on its own merits, but Aussie Top Gear fans have found that difficult. The set looks the same as the UK set, the presenters ‘characters’ appear to be based on Clarkson, Hammond and May and even the Stig (who we know isn’t the Stig) is called the Stig. Which is a bit like telling a kid that there is more than one Father Christmas.

Would our own ‘original’ Top Gear have worked better than an Aussie parody of the original?

The weekly ratings tell the story so far; lets hope SBS can turn it around.

• Episode 5 435,000 viewers Ranked 32 Nationally
• Episode 4 598,000 viewers Ranked 25 Nationally
• Episode 3 668,000 viewers Ranked 24 Nationally
• Episode 2 674,000 viewers Ranked 26 Nationally
• Episode 1 933,000 viewers Ranked 13 Nationally

Thanks for the tip Ian!