Top Gear presenters Matt LeBlanc, Rory Reid and Chris Harris will be back in 2018, says BBC boss

Top Gear will be back next year with Matt LeBlanc, Rory Reid and Chris in the driving seat.

BBC2 controller Patrick Holland confirmed the news at the channel’s launch of its spring and summer season.

Asked if all three would be back in 2018 for what would be the show’s 25 series, he said “yes, very much so”. He added that he was delighted with the trio’s performance in the most recent series which has just aired.

“The audience appreciation scores are far bigger than they were last year,” Holland said, praising the viewing figures which were consolidated at 3.4m viewers per episode.

“The audience is much younger,” he added. “It has had a real growth in under 34s and under 16s.

“The doubt at the beginning, the fear when a show comes back is will the audience grow to like this new presenting combo? And we are starting again this year. And I think they really have and Chris and Rory have grown and Matt has made it his own show.

“We are turning over a new leaf, I think Chris and Rory have been fantastic, I think Matt has really been terrific on the films. I think he really started to enjoy the studios more and more.”

As well as the main presenting trio, other more occasional Top Gear presenters including Eddie Jordan and Sabine Schmitz are also expected to be back, according to sources.

Article taken from "radiotimes.com"