The Stig - Creation and Name

Creation and Name

The idea for the character was part of host Jeremy Clarkson's and producer Andy Wilman's concept for the relaunched Top Gear show, bringing a new format to the original version of Top Gear which ceased production in 2001. The relaunched show would introduce a live studio audience, the Stig, a racetrack, and madcap stunts. Clarkson is credited by the Sunday Times with having come up with the original idea for the Stig. Clarkson and Wilman wanted to have a professional racing driver as part of the show's cast, but ran into difficulty finding a driver sufficiently adept at speaking on-camera. Clarkson then asked Wilman why the driver needed to speak at all, and the decision was made that the Stig's role would be silent.

The name Stig derives from Wilman and Clarkson's time at the private Repton School, where new boys had always been called "Stig". According to McCarthy, speaking in 2006, the producers had wanted the anonymous driver to be called 'The Gimp', referring to the use of gimp suits in BDSM sexual role-playing. After McCarthy objected, the name Stig was settled upon. McCarthy had said of the idea at the time that "I don't want to be forever remembered as the Gimp".