Driven (TV)

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driven
The driven logo
Genre	Motoring
Picture format	720x576 (anamorphic 16:9)
Running time	30 minutes
Producer(s)	?
Starring	Mike Brewer Penny Mallory Jason Plato Jason Barlow James May
Country of origin	UK
Original channel	Channel 4
Original run	1998–2002
No. of episodes	?
Official website
IMDb profile

This article is about the British TV series. For the 2001 movie of the same name see Driven

driven was a motoring television programme launched by Channel 4 in 1998 as a rival to the successful and long-running BBC series Top Gear.

The style was similar to its rival, but with additional features such as the "driven 100", a road test of three cars in the same class, where each car would be given marks for qualities such as Practicality, Desirability and Cost of Ownership. The car with the highest total score would be the winner. The programme launched with the concept that the presenters should interact with each other rather than present items on their own, as was then the case on Top Gear. The first series also featured a "headquarters", a racing team truck, set on a former air force base at which cars were put through their paces. These concepts resurfaced in the re-born Top Gear soon after.

Originally presented by Mike Brewer, James May and Jason Barlow, subsequent series also featured the rally driver Penny Mallory and the racing driver Jason Plato. Jason Barlow left the show in order to join BBC's Top Gear. Not long after he joined it, Top Gear was temporarily axed, leaving driven briefly as the only motoring show on mainstream British TV. James May later went to the BBC too, joining the Top Gear team in the second series of its new format.

Following the creation of Fifth Gear and the revival of Top Gear, driven was cancelled by Channel 4 in 2002. Jason Plato would go on to present Fifth Gear, Mike Brewer presents ITV's Pulling Power and Penny Mallory can be seen on Men & Motors' Used Car Roadshow.