The BBC has defended the new series of ‘Top Gear’ after it was claimed that ‘canned laughter’ was used to cover ‘long, awkward silences’ from the audience. It comes after The Sun quoted an anonymous audience member, who said they ‘just couldn’t believe’ how much laughter had been edited in to the show.

Top GearThe BBC has denied canned laughter was used on ‘Top Gear’.

A spokesperson for the show told The Mirror: "There were no awkward silences during filming as reported by The Sun newspaper which clearly has an agenda against the show. It's well known that 'Top Gear' isn't a live programme and that the show is edited after filming, but last week's episode was edited in exactly the same way as previous series.”

The audience member had told The Sun: “There were so many long, awkward silences. But when I watched the show back I just couldn’t believe how much laughter they had added in. The episode made it sound as though we were in fits of hysterics throughout the recording but that is far from the truth.”

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“After seeing Chris and Matt do hundreds of takes and spiel out horrendous jokes for four hours straight we were all bored out of our minds – not in stitches like they made it seem in Sunday’s show.”

The newspaper also claimed that during filming host Chris Evans had told the audience: “If you find things vaguely funny or you think they were supposed to be funny please laugh. That would be great.”

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Earlier this week, writer and presenter Danny Baker seemingly tried to distance himself from the show on Twitter, by telling his followers that he is merely an advisor and not a writer as the credits state. On the show’s credits Baker is listed as a writer alongside Paul Keransa, but Baker says his role has been exaggerated.

‘It is stated that I am a writer on 'Top Gear'. I am not. I am just an advisor. You know. Like the CIA in Vietnam,’ he tweeted. Baker has since come under criticism for trying to ‘distance’ himself from the show because of its poor reception.