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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

BBC wins request for Stig case to be held in secret

The costumed Top Gear stunt driver had planned to unmask himself in a candid new autobiography, but his employers are seeking an injunction to prevent HarperCollins from publishing the book.
Mr Justice Morgan yesterday granted the Corporation's request for the case to be heard in private, ruling that a public hearing “would defeat the object”.

HarperCollins had applied for the public to be allowed to sit in on the case, arguing that it wanted to defend its reputation openly against perceived criticism in the press.
The Stig races a variety of cars on the Top Gear programme clad in white overalls and a blacked-out visa, and only about six people - including the programme’s presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond - know his identity for certain.
The secrecy has elevated him to cult status and spawned t-shirts with slogans such as "My Dad is the Stig", but he is said to be unhappy that other presenters are able to earn considerable sums from book deals and promotional products.
The BBC claims that the mystery driver signed a confidentiality agreement and argues that blowing his cover would spoil viewers’ enjoyment of the flagship BBC 2 show.
HarperCollins has criticised the Corporation for spending license payers’ money on the attempt to block the book.
The publisher said in a statement: "We will vigorously defend the perfectly legitimate right of this individual to tell his story".
Top Gear’s executive producer, Andy Wilman, responded by accusing HarperCollins of being “a bunch of chancers” who were trying to “cash in” after contributing “absolutely bugger all” to the show’s eight-year creation.
Writing on the Top Gear blog, he also made a sideswip at the Stig, writing: "It's an issue of trust. Everyone who's ever worked on Top Gear has kept the Stig thing a secret, and the person who wears the suit has signed confidentiality agreements to do the same…Your word is supposed to mean something."
Speculation that the Stig could be Ben Collins, a racing driver and stuntman from Bristol, intensified earlier this month after the accounts of his company, Collins Autosport, were found to list “driving services provided for the BBC, mainly in the Top Gear programme”.
The 35-year-old, who has performed as a James Bond stunt double, was also “outed” as the Stig in 2009, when a builder, Jason Goody, claimed to have come across his famous white suit and gloves on display in a cabinet while working in his home.
Simon Whitehead, a Bristol gallery owner, later claimed that Mr Collins had identified himself as the mystery driver and asked if an artist could help produce a limited-edition print of him in action.
The current “white” Stig took on the role in 2003 after the original “black” Stig, the racing driver Perry McCarthy, outed himself in an autobiography called Flat Out, Flat Broke.

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