Top Gear going Dutch with new series in Holland

Spinning off isn't usually a good thing when you're making a show about cars, unless the spinning in question relates to the series itself and not to the cars being driven. And while Clarkson, Stig, et al, have certainly spun enough cars on and off camera, their mishaps are surpassed by the number of spin-off shows that have resulted from the original BBC program.

Disregarding the other shows that Hammond and May in particular host, and the magazines, and the traveling road show and everything else, Top Gear has led to additional series in Australia, Russia, the United States, China and South Korea. And those are just the ones we know about. Now, word on the high street is that another series is planned for the Netherlands.

The latest spin-off is reportedly being put together by the publisher of Holland's Autoweek magazine and the producers of Veronica, a local TV station that already broadcasts the British and Australian versions of the show in Holland.

The formula will naturally follow the tried, tested and true format that has made the original such a success and which has already been replicated around the world. As for the Stig, well... we always thought his name sounded mysteriously Dutch. And now it will be.