BBC Loses Its Attempt To Silence Top Gear Test Driver The Stig From Revealing His Identity

from the hello-ben-collins dept

Thu, Sep 2nd 2010 1:30am — Mike Masnick

The incredibly popular UK BBC TV show Top Gear has been involved in a legal fight with publisher HarperCollins over the plans to publish a book revealing the identity of "The Stig," the always secretive test driver who appears in the show unidentified in a racing suit and helmet. The BBC spent its (publicly-funded) money to try to prevent such a revelation, but the UK courts have pointed out the basic free speech rights involved, and allowed racecar driver Ben Collins to admit that he's The Stig and have his autobiography published. Of course, in watching this battle unfold, I was confused as to why the BBC was going after HarperCollins, rather than targeting Ben Collins directly (and, by the way, I'm assuming the "Collins" in both names is a coincidence). Either way, as HarperCollins notes, this does appear to be a victory for free speech. In the meantime, if the BBC is really so upset that "the mystery" is gone, why not just get a new once-again secret Stig? In fact, the BBC has actually done exactly that in the past, dumping Perry McCarthy as the original Stig after his identity was revealed.

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Filed Under: ben collins, free speech, the stig, top gear
Companies: bbc, harpercollins

30 Comments

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frosty840, 2 Sep 2010 @ 2:00am

What I'm finding amusing is the BBC newsreaders who are conspicuously omitting the name of the "alleged" Stig from their reporting of the case.
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Phillip, 2 Sep 2010 @ 2:10am

Perhaps the BBC took up the lawsuit as a marketing effort to attract attention to its Stig gimmick?
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mat_mo, 2 Sep 2010 @ 2:23am

Confidentiality
The point that you've neglected to mention is that Ben Collins had signed a confidentiality agreement.
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NattyFido (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 2:32am

As a fan of Top Gear and a fan of motorsport, I have only ever heard the name Ben Collins in relation to the Stig mystery.
I have never heard of him in any of the motor races I have seen, yet they refer to him as a 'tame racing driver'!
Where has he been racing?
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Richard (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 2:50am

Harper Collins is Murdoch
Harper Collins is owned by News international. This is part of Rupert Murdoch's attack on the BBC - now his only serious competitor in UK TV.

He is trying to undermine the revenue making potential of top gear - which is one of the BBC's biggest moneyspinners. Ben Collins is being used...

(Actually he was blown up in the last show - so it should be fairly easy to justify replacing him - or maybe "regenerating him" - like Dr Who...)
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Mike Masnick (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:07am

Re: Confidentiality
The point that you've neglected to mention is that Ben Collins had signed a confidentiality agreement.

Which is why I said they should have gone after him for breaking the agreement -- not HarperCollins for publishing the book.
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Griff (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:22am

Re: Re: Confidentiality
You are confusing suing him for breach of contract (which they will probably do when the book is published and he has actually breached the contract) with trying to prevent the damage occurring in the first place (by preventing publication , which requires an injunction against the publisher, not against him).

Suing him after the fact is to some extent crying over spilt milk, and the only value in it is to warn future transgressors that such contracts will be enforced.

I expect they'll win the breach of contract case (open and shut) which will take the edge of his book earnings. But the publisher will still do fine. As one of the posters above noted, it seems as if Ben Collins is being used.

The main topic of discussion in UK is "should license payers' money have been spent trying to get the injunction ?". Or maybe "what advise did they take regarding how likely the injunction was to succeed ?".

Given the Streisand effect, this whole affair will only serve to heighten Christmas book sales. But then you could argue whether or not the Top Gear program will do well out of the book publicity in the long term.
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mbs, 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:24am

The Character "the Stig"
I think this matters less to fans of Top Gear than the BBC and Collins himself realise. The Stig is a character, and who plays him doesn't matter much - especially since we never see his face (well, now, except when Collins has contributed as himself). If this biography sells, it's probably because it's describing how it is playing an anonymous man, not necessarily because that man was the Stig.

Another myth created by Jeremy Clarkson which this book might debunk, is that racing drivers "have tiny little brains", and are "dreary".
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Ramon Casha, 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:26am

Why not just throw out a few fake Stigs?
It's easy, just collect a half dozen people of the approximately same height and build, pay them each a few hundred bucks to say they're The Stig, then sit back and refuse to confirm or deny any of them.
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Aitala (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:37am

Re: Re: Re: Confidentiality
I think Griff pretty much nails the legal argument here.

I think Mike's addition about public funding is also off base since Top Gear make the BBC a quite substantial amount of money. The mythos of the Stig is part of the show's fun and it could be argued that revealing his identity might reduce the profits the show makes.

Now I need to find my 'I am the Stig's fat cousin' T-shirt.

Eric
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Lisae Boucher (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:43am

A Red Stig?
I think the BBC will just drop the current Stig and have him replaced with a new one. Probably dressed in red and maybe female, for a change. Thus we would see a red Stig with blonde hairs from under her helmet. :-)
Well, a girl can hope, can't she? ;-)
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:53am

Re: The Character "the Stig"
"I think this matters less to fans of Top Gear than the BBC and Collins himself realise."

Exactly. The Stig is like a character from a movie. We know an actor has to play that character. But even if we know the actor's identity, what matters is that the man in the white suit is The Stig, not Ben Collins. People will always see him as The Stig, no matter what.

BBC should see this as an end of an era and an opportunity to expand the myth of The Stig. Why not throw in a few more Stig clones or kill off this Stig and move on (like they did before)?
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mike allen (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 5:14am

Re: A Red Stig?
knowing Jeramy Clarksons views on women Fancy being first woman on Mars you stand a better chance.
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ScaredOfTheMan, 2 Sep 2010 @ 5:29am

The Stig
Some say he is made of nanobots and goat cheese
All we know, is we will sue his a$$ for breach of contract as soon as this book comes out.
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Lisae Boucher (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 5:54am

Re: Re: A Red Stig?
Maybe. :-) Then again, it would be a very interesting idea. I can imagine how they would introduce her. IIt starts with the old Stig racing in some bad car. A bazooka becomes visible, in the hand of someone in red. The bazooka shoots and hits the car with Stig in it. BOOM! Flames, explosions, smoke and end of old Stig. Focus on the woman in red, she turns out to be Red Stig, and she forcefully takes over the job of old Stig. :-)
Besides, it doesn't have to be a real woman. A blonde wig and two big oranges located at the right place and poof! Instant she-Stig. Would also make it much harder to guess her (his) real identity...
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Jeremy7600 (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 5:58am

As a longtime fan of the show, I should have never read the article after I saw the headline.. (my own fault there, but hey, I couldn't stop myself) I was always intrigued by the mystery and enjoyed the fact that they hid his identity. It matters less to fans of this show than they think? It matters a lot to me, now I won't think of him (the current one) as the Stig, and a mystery figure, but some no name driver I've never heard of.

Who plays him does not matter, but the fact that it has been revealed who he is DOES matter. Bit of a difference there. Like I said above, I enjoyed the idea of not knowing who he was and always guessing who he might be. Now, that's ruined.

I would hope that there is more than one Stig and that the mystery continues. I love it.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Sep 2010 @ 6:03am

Re: Confidentiality
Well it looks like the UK court did not think that the agreement was worth the paper it was written on.
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Evostick, 2 Sep 2010 @ 6:17am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Confidentiality
good comments Aitala and Griff. Have some mod points, oh wait...
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Evostick, 2 Sep 2010 @ 6:25am

Re: Re: The Character "the Stig"
I am now imagining a whole field of stigs. A'la matrix 3.
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Aitala (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 7:49am

Re: A Red Stig?
I wonder if Sabine is looking for a part time job?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabine_Schmitz

Eric
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Christy McFarland, 2 Sep 2010 @ 8:52am

No, no, no, you said it wrong...
"...Some say he eats six lawyers before 6:00 AM every day.

Some say he moonlights as a vigilante from Intellectual Property law.

All we know, is that he's called The Stig."
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nasch (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 10:32am

Re:
Some say… that he sleeps inside out
Some say… that he’s confused by stairs
Some say… that he invented November
Some say… that he has a digital face
Some say… that he’s banned from the town of Chichester
Some say… that he appears on high-value stamps in Sweden
Some say… that he sucks the moisture from ducks
Some say… that he’s illegal in 17 US States
Some say… that his breath smells of magnesium
Some say… that his genitals are on upside-down
Some say… that he invented Branston Pickle
Some say… that his voice can only be heard by cats
Some say… that his first name really is “The”
Some say… that his tears are adhesive
Some say… that he once punched a horse to the ground
Some say… that, once, he had an affair with John Prescott
Some say… that he has a full-size tattoo of his face… on his face
Some say… that he knows two facts about ducks. And both of them are wrong.
Some say… that he thought Star Wars was a documentary
Some say… that he once had a vicious knife-fight with Anthea Turner
Some say… that when he slows down, brake lights come on in his buttocks
Some say… that to unlock him, you have to run your finger down his face
Some say… that he once had full sex with Russell Brand’s answering machine
Some say… that he isn’t allowed, by law, within a hundred yards of Lorraine Kelly
Some say… that he’s never seen an episode of Top Gear, because he’s a huge fan of Midsomer Murders

All we know is, he's called The Stig!

Just assume that they sacked Collins and it's someone else behind the visor now. Mystery intact.
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Ben (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 12:44pm

Statistics are wrecked
But the point of the Stig is to set fast times with all the cars. Now they have to start over, because the new Stig's times won't be comparable with the old Stig's times, because we'll all know they're being set by a different driver.

I do like the idea of a female Red Stig, however. And none of this 'blonde wig and a pair of oranges' malarkey. Let's have a real woman (most people can tell the difference in silhouette anyway!) to do the driving - the power to weight ratio is likely to be better anyway.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 2 Sep 2010 @ 4:30pm

Re: Confidentiality
Griff spouted:

You are confusing suing him for breach of contract (which they will probably do when the book is published and he has actually breached the contract) with trying to prevent the damage occurring in the first place (by preventing publication , which requires an injunction against the publisher, not against him).

So what? What legal grounds do they have for going after the publisher for �damage�? All they have is the contractual agreement with Collins himself, not with the publisher.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 2 Sep 2010 @ 4:36pm

The Funny Thing Was ...
... I saw this on the TV news the other day, and the item was dominated by commentators saying how the BBC had �invested millions of pounds� in its �intellectual property�, which therefore had to be protected. Nowhere did they explain why �millions of pounds� automatically gave them a legal right to any �intellectual property�, or even what the nature of the �intellectual property� was.

That, to me, is the biggest problem with the term �intellectual property�: that you no longer seem to need to spell out exactly what the nature of the �intellectual property� is, whether it�s specifically a copyright, a patent, a trademark or a trade secret that you�re trying to �protect�, instead by just calling it �intellectual property� you can give the impression it�s something that mixes together all these concepts, while at the same time managing to go beyond them all.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 2 Sep 2010 @ 4:37pm

Your Comment System Is Screwed
At least before I was able to include UTF-8 characters in the comment bodies, even if titles were a bit iffy. Now they no longer seem to work anywhere.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 3 Sep 2010 @ 12:19am

Re: Your Comment System Is Screwed
copy-and-pasting from Word does weird things to text.
Just use the standard editor (or if needs be Notepad) and the more regular " and ' quotes. And you'll be just fine.
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 6 Sep 2010 @ 7:49pm

Re: Your Comment System Is Screwed
I don’t use Word.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Sep 2010 @ 5:55am

Re: Confidentiality
Just like spiderman and batman and superman and daredevil and captain America and...
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Feb 2011 @ 5:06pm

The Stig
I don't actuallys ee why they keep his identity hidden in the first place, all he does is drive the cars, let him have his word as well, what could it really hurt. Working and subscribing to DISH network I get to enjoy the stig in HD whenever I can, the HD quality is crystal clear, which only makes the cars look beeter, and with all HD being free witha ll top packages. can't complain. I promise we will let the HD reveal itself if it wants to.
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