A few weeks ago, he was a minor TV celeb on a seemingly-quite-specialist
BBC2 motoring show- but since
his accident on September 20th, the country seems to have suddenly gone
Richard Hammond nuts!!
On the morning after his accident, a sudden uprising of the secret underground Hammond fan club began, with literally millions of people who you would have assumed up until that point didn't even know who he was suddenly began singing their heartfelt praises for him.
I've only really started to watch Top Gear in the past couple of years but by far the most entertaining thing about it as far as I'm concerned is Hammond. As has been said many a time since his accident, the fact that he manages to act the fool while performing some of the most daredevil feats is pure entertainment.
I was really shocked to read about his accident on the Wednesday evening and subsequent reporting on Thursday morning which initially suggested the poor guy had had it. But, touch wood, his seemingly miraculous recovery goes on.
Following the huge amount of front-page newspaper coverage, I posed the opinion poll question on the
tellytunes website in recent weeks:
Richard Hammond - is he worth front-page news? The verdict was an overwhelming YES by 88%. Only 8% thought the coverage was OTT but, most surprisingly, only 4% of people had never previously heard of him.
And the most comical height of the coverage came last week. Imagine the scene - you're
Home Secretary John Reid and you've got your eye on becoming the next leader of the Labour Party and therefore the next UK Prime Minister. For two months, you've been writing and rehearsing your speech for the Labour Conference - your big moment to make an impact, to stake your claim on the Premiership. Your big moment comes, you're live on every rolling news channel in the UK. You begin...
"Dear Respected Labour Party Conference delegates. I am speaking to you today as...." BANG - bugger that says the Sky News producer, we're off live to Leeds where Richard Hammond is being stretchered into a helicopter for his
hospital transfer to Bristol. Dr Reid's career down the pan in a flash thanks to some two-bit TV invalid and his Bupa membership.
But, while John Reid's career may be on the downturn, the same certainly can't be said for that of the Hamster. On the assumption that he makes the full recovery that doctors are expecting in 5-6 months time, the popularity that has appeared form nowhere for him in the past weeks must surely stand him in good stead for future TV projects. BBC2's Battle of the Geeks featuring Hammond and shown on Sunday night attracted
1.9m viewers. You can't tell me that nearly 2million viewers would have given up their Sunday night for that if it hadn't of been for the current situation.
And fair play to him - he deserves a decent show for his efforts. Let's hope he gets it - but on just two conditions: 1) he sticks with Top Gear and 2) ITV don't re-commission that ruddy Five O'Clock debacle!!
Get well soon Hamster!
