Jeremy Clarkson is refusing to relocate to Media City if the BBC decide to move Top Gear there
He does not want to come up north
And guess what ...............
The fact is, you can sell Manchester and the north as nicec placs, which they are, with less expensive housing, which they have, but as far as the BBC staff and guests are concerned - it's not London, and that's the end of it.
"...and Birmingham's Pebble Mill studios failed to attact anyone of any serious note"
Mostly true, but I do think we will need to discount the likes of Benazir Bhutto, Bob Hope, Tom Jones and a host of others from receiving the 'not of serious note' epithet when they schlepped to Edgbaston.
Times, tastes and formats change but perhaps it is of some interest to remember that the first incarnation of Top Gear ran for nearly 25 years (without the now prerequisite guest celebrity segment) as a BBC Birmingham production à la Pebble Mill studios.