PICS: Chris Evans defends the new Top Gear, calling it “a hit” despite all the criticism

It's fair to say that the much-heralded new series of Top Gear...divided opinion when it debuted over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The initial response from viewers was pretty scathing. https://twitter.com/batesy_loike/status/736996718106021888 https://twitter.com/paulcolgan/status/737013106946281472 https://twitter.com/carolvorders/status/737006359393239040 Ratings information released earlier on Monday showed that the launch episode of the new Top Gear line-up had an average audience of 4.4 million. One of the show's main hosts, Chris Evans, had said he'd be "disappointed" with anything fewer than five million viewers for the debut instalment (as a point of contrast, the previous series, headed by Jeremy Clarkson, drew 5.3 million last summer). However, if Evans was disappointed by the figures - and the popular reaction to the episode - then he wasn't showing it earlier. He used his Twitter account to declare the show "a hit" by winning its time slot and attracting 23 per cent audience share. https://twitter.com/achrisevans/status/737278291346903041 Evans also pointed out that the show's initial figures look set to grow thanks to healthy catch-up stats on BBC iPlayer. https://twitter.com/achrisevans/status/737278995729895424 The opening episode included Evans and co-host Matt LeBlanc racing from London to Blackpool, a dogfight between American muscle cars in Nevada, and a British-built off-road desert buggy chase across a desert. Top Gear is believed to be worth a lot of money in global sales to the BBC, so the corporation is likely to do whatever it takes to keep the brand on track. It has this period to bed in properly before Clarkson et all launch their Amazon Prime show, The Grand Tour, later this year. Maybe Evans will be proved right? Every show should be given a chance to get in gear. https://twitter.com/scottygb/status/737042244629372928