Top Gear is a
BBC
television series about motor
vehicles, primarily
cars. It began in
1977 as a conventional motoring magazine show. Over time, and
especially since a relaunch in 2002, it has developed a quirky,
humorous style. The show is currently presented by
Jeremy Clarkson,
Richard Hammond and
James May, and also features a test driver known
as
The Stig. The programme is estimated to
have 350 million viewers worldwide.
First run
episodes are broadcast in the United Kingdom
on BBC Two. Top
Gear is also shown on
Dave,
BBC America,
BBC
Canada,
RTÉ Two in Ireland,
SBS in Australia (until
2010), and a number of other television channels around the world.
The popularity of the show has led to the creation of two
international versions, with local production teams and presenters
for Australia and Russia. Episodes of the Australian version
premiered on 29 September 2008 and NBC was holding the American
version for broadcast in February or March 2009, as a possible
mid-season replacement, but later dropped it from their schedule
before production resumed.
The show has received acclaim for its visual style and
presentation, as well as considerable criticism for its content and
comments made by presenters. Columnist
A.
A. Gill
described the show as "a triumph of the craft of programme-making,
of the minute, obsessive, musical masonry of editing, the
french polishing of colourwashing and
grading".
History
Jeremy Clarkson, who helped the
original series reach its peak in the 1990s, along with producer
Andy Wilman, successfully pitched a new
format for
Top Gear to the
BBC,
reversing a previous decision to cancel the show in 2001. The new
series was first broadcast in 2002.
Top Gear's studio is
located at Dunsfold Aerodrome and business park in
Waverley, Surrey.
Top Gear uses a
temporary racing circuit which was designed for the show by
Lotus and is laid out on parts of
Dunsfold's runways and taxiways. A large
hangar is used for studio recording with a standing
audience.
The new series format incorporates a number of major changes from
the old show. The running time was extended to one hour and two new
presenters were introduced:
Richard
Hammond and
Jason Dawe,
with
James May replacing Dawe after the
first series.
The Stig, an anonymous,
helmeted racing driver, was introduced as the test driver. New
segments were also added, including "
Star in a Reasonably-Priced
Car", "The Cool Wall", "The News", "
Power
Laps", and one-off features such as races, competitions and the
regular destruction of
caravan and,
more recently,
Morris Marinas.
In early
2006, the BBC had planned to move the filming
site from Dunsfold
to Enstone,
Oxfordshire
for filming of the eighth series of Top Gear, but
the move was rejected by West Oxfordshire
council due to noise and pollution concerns.
Filming of the series went ahead at Dunsfold in May despite not
having a permit to do so, with a revamped studio set, a new car for
the "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car" segment, and the inclusion of
one of Hammond's dogs, named "Top Gear Dog", in a few studio and
film segments of that series.
On 20 September 2006,
Richard
Hammond was seriously injured while driving a
Vampire turbojet drag racing car at up to for
a feature in the show. The
BBC indefinitely
postponed the broadcast of
Best of Top Gear and announced
that production of the show would be delayed until Hammond had
recovered. Both the BBC and the
Health and Safety Executive
carried out inquiries into the accident. Filming resumed on 5
October 2006. The ninth series began on 28 January 2007 and
included footage of Hammond's crash.
The first show of the
ninth series attracted higher ratings than the finale of
Celebrity Big Brother
and the final episode of the series had 8
million viewers — BBC Two's highest ratings for a
decade.
[[Image:TopGearHosts.jpg|thumb|250px|
- Top Photo: Series 1 host lineup from left to right: Jason Dawe, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson.
- Bottom Photo: The presenters from Series 2 onward: James May, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy
Clarkson.
- ]]
A special programme, Top
Gear: Polar Special, was broadcast in the UK on 25 July
2007 and was the first episode to be shown in high-definition. It involved a race to
the North Magnetic Pole from
Resolute,
Nunavut, Canada
, with
James May and Jeremy Clarkson travelling in a 'polar
modified' Toyota Hilux, and Richard Hammond on a dog drawn sled.
All three presenters had experienced explorers with them, and
Clarkson and May became the first to reach the 1996 North Magnetic
Pole by car, using the vehicle's satellite
navigation. Since 1996, the North Magnetic Pole had moved
approximately . The recorded 1996 location is the target used
by Polar Challenge and was used by
the Top Gear team as their destination; the Geographic North Pole
is approximately further north.
On 9
September 2007, Top Gear participated in the 2007 Britcar 24-hour race at Silverstone
, where the hosts (including The
Stig) drove a race prepared, second hand diesel BMW 330d to
come 3rd in class and 39th overall. The car was allegedly
fuelled using biodiesel refined from crops
shown during a tractor review in the previous series.
In 2008, the show was adapted into a live format called Top
Gear Live. The tour started on 30 October 2008 in Earls
Court, London
, moving on
to Birmingham
in November then at least 15 other countries
worldwide.Produced by former Top Gear producer
Rowland French the events were described as an attempt to "bring
the tv show format to life... featuring breath-taking stunts,
amazing special effects and blockbusting driving sequences
featuring some of the world’s best precision drivers".
On 17 June 2008, in an interview on BBC
Radio 1's The Chris Moyles
Show, Hammond and May confirmed that in Series 11 there
would be a new "occasional regular host". This was revealed to be
Top Gear Stunt Man. The series' executive producer, Andy Wilman,
has also revealed that future programmes will have less time
devoted to big challenges:
"We've looked back at the last two or three runs and
noticed that a programme can get swallowed up by one monster film —
a bit like one of those Yes albums from the 70s where side one is
just one track — so we're trying to calm down the prog-rock
side.
We'll inevitably still have big films, because it's the
only way you can enjoy the three of them cocking about together,
but they'll be shorter overall, and alongside we'll be inserting
two- or three-minute punk songs."
Broadcasts
New
episodes of Top Gear are broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on Sunday
evenings at 8:00 pm (Series 14 is currently being broadcast at 9:00
pm in order not to clash with The X
Factor Results show). Each show is an hour in length
with no interruptions for advertisements as the BBC is funded by
the annual
TV licence.
Repeats of earlier series are currently shown on
Dave, cut to 46 minutes to allow it to fit
in an hour-long slot while leaving room for advertisements. Since
mid-October 2007 the channel Dave has begun showing new episodes of
Top Gear only three weeks behind
BBC
Two. The new episodes are also shown in an edited 46-minute
version.
Top Gear has been broadcast in other countries
either in its original format, in a re-edited version, or with
specially shot segments in front of the UK audience. For example,
Canvas, the
Flemish public broadcaster, picked up the show
after the success of the
Top Gear: Polar Special
programme.
The BBC version of the
programme is broadcast by RTE Two in
Ireland
.
The BBC also broadcasts edited
Top Gear programmes on its
international
BBC World TV channel.
Episodes are shortened to 30 minutes, often leaving dangling
references and inconsistencies. Additionally, the original
transmission order is sometimes not adhered to, so references to
un-aired events are common. The only footage specially shot for the
international version is for the end of each episode, when Clarkson
bids his goodbye to BBC World viewers, instead of BBC viewers.
BBC America also broadcasts repeats of
Top Gear, with two episodes shown back-to-back, but with
segments edited to allow for commercials.
Recently,
BBC World has changed from
showing edited versions of the current series to "best of"
collections of the previous series. In both cases the
BBC World edition mainly features the challenges
and races from the normal episodes, with Clarkson's 'stronger'
remarks removed. Interviews and "Car of the Year" are generally not
shown.
The show's episodes from Series 11 and Series 12 are also available
on iTunes. They are edited for content, often pixelating swear
words and "bleeping" them out, but the timing indicates they match
with the full BBC2 version.
On 22 September 2009, the BBC confirmed that future episodes of
Top Gear would be filmed in
high-definition and available to
view on
BBC HD.
Episodes
Charity specials
As of July 2008,
Top Gear have produced three specials for
Comic Relief. The first, titled
Stars in Fast Cars, was
broadcast on 5 February 2005, and starred Hammond and May as
presenters, with Clarkson and five other British television
personalities racing against each other. It spawned a short-lived
series presented by
Dougie
Anderson.
The second was filmed for
Comic
Relief's
Red Nose Day 2007
fund-raising event, and is titled
Top Gear of the Pops. It mixed the
show's typical format with music and appearances from artists
Lethal Bizzle,
Travis,
Supergrass,
and
McFly who were challenged to write a song
including the words "sofa", "administration" and "
Hyundai", which they later recorded and included as
a B-side to their single "
The
Heart Never Lies". It concluded with a performance by
Clarkson, Hammond and May with
Justin
Hawkins of "Red Light Spells Danger" by
Billy Ocean.
The third, titled
Top Ground
Gear Force, was broadcast on
BBC
Two at 10:00 pm on 14 March 2008 as part of
Sport Relief. This programme, which borrowed
the
Ground Force format, saw
presenters 'Alan Clarkmarsh', 'Handy Hammond' and 'Jamesy Dimmock
May' undertake a one-day makeover of Olympic rower Sir
Steve Redgrave's garden, an attempt that
failed spectacularly.
Segments
Races
The show regularly features long-distance (or, as Clarkson refers
to them, "epic") races. These typically feature Clarkson (or one of
the other presenters) driving a car against other forms of
transport. The challenges usually involve Hammond and May taking
the same journey by combinations of plane, train or ferry.
A number of smaller scale 'novelty' races have also taken place
that demonstrate various strengths and, more often, weaknesses of
cars. These races involve one of the presenters, in a carefully
chosen car, racing head-to-head against an athlete in conditions
that favour the latter. The programme has also featured a variety
of small races, typically lasting a couple of minutes, that pit two
similar cars against each other, for example, old and very powerful
racing cars against new showroom cars.
Challenges
In the first few seasons, the series featured novelty challenges
and short stunt films, typically based on absurd premises, such as
a bus jumping over motorcycles (as opposed to the more typical
scenario of a motorcycle jumping over buses) or a nun driving a
monster truck. No stunt films appeared between series seven and
ten, but series eleven saw the introduction of segments with an
anonymous stunt man (credited as "Top Gear Stunt Man") performing
car jumps.
Starting with series five, many of the show's challenges were
introduced with the tag-line,
"How hard can it be?".
These
included challenges where the presenters attempt to build a
convertible Renault Espace, being
roadies for The Who, and participating in
the Britcar 24-hour endurance race at Silverstone
Circuit.
Starting with series four, one episode of each series has featured
a film built around the premise of "Cheap cars", whereby the
presenters are given a budget (typically around £1,500, but it has
been between £100 and £10,000 depending on the type of car) to buy
a used car conforming to certain criteria. Once purchased, the
presenters compete against each other in a series of tests to
establish who has bought the best car. The presenters have no prior
knowledge of what the tests will be, although the tests typically
involve long journeys to determine the reliability and fuel economy
of the cars, and a race track event to determine performance.
Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car
In each episode, a celebrity is interviewed by Clarkson.
Then,
Clarkson, the guest and the studio audience watch footage of the
guest's fastest lap around the Top Gear test track
. The times are recorded on a leader board.
For the first seven series of
Top Gear's current format,
the car driven was a
Suzuki Liana. A
few celebrities have returned for a second time round the track,
including
Boris Johnson, now
Mayor of London.
At the beginning of the eighth series, the Liana was replaced by a
Chevrolet Lacetti. Consequently, as
the Lacetti is more powerful, the leader board was wiped clean. The
format for setting a lap time was also changed: each celebrity is
allowed five practice laps, then a final timed lap. No allowance is
made for any errors on this final timed lap.
Ellen MacArthur set the fastest lap
time of any celebrity in the Liana. As of July 2008
Jay Kay set the fastest lap time of any celebrity in
the Chevrolet Lacetti in the final episode of series 11, knocking
Simon Cowell off the top. Also to be
noted,
Brian Johnson of
ACDC came in at a close second with a 1:45.9 while Jay
Kay had a lap time of 1:45.8.
There have been several mishaps in the past with this feature.
Sir Michael Gambon went around the
final corner of the track on two wheels, prompting Jeremy to rename
the corner in Gambon's honour.
Lionel
Richie and
Trevor Eve lost a wheel
and
David Soul destroyed the clutches of
both the main car and the back-up car. Several celebrities have
come off the track in practice, with Clarkson showing the footage
to the audience.
There is a separate
Formula One drivers'
leader board. The Stig is top of this board, but the presenters
consider
Lewis Hamilton's time to be
more impressive; despite being set on a very wet and oily track,
Hamilton's time was only three tenths of a second slower than The
Stig's, which was set in dry conditions. In the past Clarkson has
told drivers that they may deduct three seconds for a wet lap in
the Suzuki Liana, making Hamilton's lap even more impressive. All
Formula One times, even those set after the seventh series, are set
in the Suzuki Liana.
Power Laps
Top Gear Test Track.
In the
Power Laps segment, The Stig completes a lap around the Top
Gear test track to gauge the performance of various
cars.
The qualifications for the normal Power Lap Board is that the car
being tested must be road-worthy, be able to buy it, and be able to
go over a
speed bump which is sometimes
referred to as a '
sleeping
policeman'. There is a separate unofficial board of times for
non-production cars, such as the
Aston
Martin DBR9 Le Mans racer.
Cars that have recorded ineligible lap times on the
Top
Gear track include the
Renault F1
car, at fifty nine seconds (0:59.00), and the
Caparo T1, at 1:10.6, both disqualified due to the
sleeping policeman requirement, as well as the
Ferrari FXX, at 1:10.7, which was disqualified
for using
slick tyres.
The fastest road legal car that met the Power Lap requirements has
been the
Gumpert Apollo S since
Season 12 with a time of
1:17.1.
The Cool Wall
Introduced in the sixth episode of series one, Clarkson and Hammond
decide which cars are
cool and
which are not by placing photographs of them on to various sections
of a large board, known as 'The Cool Wall'. The categories are,
from left to right; "Seriously Uncool", "Uncool", "Cool", and "Sub
Zero".According to Andy Wilman, the show's producer, any given
car's coolness factor rested on various attributes that are not
necessarily related to the quality of the car itself. For example,
Wilman suggests that "fashion cars" such as the
Audi TT,
PT Cruiser,
Jaguar S-Type and
Volkswagen Beetle are uncool because they
"make a massive impact for five minutes and then look clichéd and
vaguely ridiculous."The following criteria appear to apply for
different car manufacturers:
- All Alfa Romeos are automatically
cool
- Small European cars (Fiats, Peugeots, etc) are automatically
cool - unless they win the European Car of the Year award, at
which point they become seriously uncool. The presenters also
consider the Fiat Panda to be way beyond
Seriously Uncool because James May owns one.
- 4x4s and SUVs are
automatically Uncool, though the Hummer is
considered cool because of its size and political
incorrectness.
- Supercars are almost always Uncool,
though the latest Aston Martins have
been put into the DB9 Fridge.
Another exception is the Koenigsegg
CCX, as it is 'scary' for having nearly killed The Stig during
the power lap of the car on the Dunsfold track.
- The Chris Bangle-designed BMW 3-series range of cars are considered so
bland that their pictures have been left on the floor, rather than
the Cool Wall.
- Convertibles are usually cool, with
the exception of the aforementioned Uncool '5 minute wonders',
particularly the Chrysler PT-Cruiser convertible, which the
presenters consider hideous.
- Cars move depending on which 'cocks' are driving them — the
presenters consider 'cocks' to be footballers, footballers'
wives, those Clarkson describes as the 'televisual elite' and
any other centre of attention for Britain's tabloid press. A case in point was the migration of
'the cocks' from the BMW M3 to the Audi RS4, and the repositioning of each car from
the Seriously Uncool to Cool section of the wall, in their
respective directions.
- Cars which any of the three presenters (Clarkson, Hammond and
May) own are automatically placed in the Seriously Uncool section
of the board.
On the show, Clarkson has stated that cars were deemed cool by the
extent to which he believed they would impress actress
Kristin Scott Thomas, and later, BBC
newsreader
Fiona Bruce. Both have since
been the celebrity guest for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car
feature; when Scott Thomas appeared on the show in series nine,
many of her own judgments on which vehicles were "cool" and
"uncool" were the opposite to the show's verdicts (her own car
being a
G-Wiz, previously dubbed "uncool").
Later, when Bruce came on in series 11, her preferred choice of
transport — a
Citroen
Picasso — visibly horrified Clarkson.
In the first episode of series four, a separate fridge section, the
"DB9 Super Cool Fridge", on a table to the right of the board, was
introduced after Jeremy declared that the
Aston Martin DB9 was too cool even to be
classified as "Sub-Zero". It initially contained just the DB9, but
was eventually joined by the
Aston Martin V8 Vantage in
the seventh series. At the other end of the scale, James May's car
— the Fiat Panda — was placed several metres to the left of the
"uncool" side, on a banner at the back of the hangar.
This was partly due to an acknowledged rule by the presenters that
cars owned by themselves cannot be considered cool. In series nine,
Clarkson was forced to place the
Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder in
the Uncool section because he had just bought one. He then revealed
that he had sold his
Ford GT, allowing him
to move the car back into the Sub-Zero section.
The humour of this section often lies in Clarkson and Hammond
disagreeing over which section a car should be placed in, with
Clarkson nearly always winning the argument — sometimes by placing
the car at the very top of the wall, preventing the much shorter
Hammond from being able to reach it (although in the last episode
of series 13 Hammond got his own back by using a
scissor lift, which was stopped by Clarkson
pressing the emergency stop button, thus he could put the
Pagani Zonda F in the Seriously Uncool
section). Clarkson sometimes uses more extreme methods such as
burning the card depicting the car in question, or once even taking
a chainsaw to the wall when Hammond dared to try and place a
Ducati 1098 motorbike on the wall.
Hammond has occasionally had his revenge: after a series of
disagreements with Clarkson's choices, he snatched the card on
which a
BMW M6 was featured from Clarkson and
then ran into the audience, leading to a fight between the two and
to Hammond eating the card, preventing it from being used; or
during series six, after Clarkson had slipped two
intervertebral discs and was unable to
bend down, Hammond ended an argument by placing the car in question
at the bottom of the board.
The Cool Wall was mostly destroyed in the fire that occurred in
August 2007 (reported, tongue in cheek, by Jeremy Clarkson as
having been started by their
Five
rivals,
Fifth Gear), and was not
used during the subsequent tenth series. The burnt wall was present
during episode 3 of series 10, when Hammond was testing the
auto-parking
Lexus LS 600 next to it. A
new Cool Wall was introduced in the second episode of series
eleven.
Unusual reviews
A common theme on
Top Gear is an approach to reviewing
cars which combines standard road tests and opinions with an
extremely unusual circumstance, or with a challenge to demonstrate
a notable characteristic of the vehicle.
This has included several reviews, including "Toyota Hilux
Destruction", featured in series three, episodes five and six.
Various methods were employed by Clarkson and May to try to destroy
a fourth generation
Toyota Hilux,
thereby proving its strength. The 'trials' included dropping the
Hilux from a crane, setting the vehicle on fire, driving it into a
tree, leaving it out in the sea, dropping a caravan on it, slamming
it with a
wrecking ball, and finally
having it hoisted to the roof of a tower-block that was
subsequently demolished with explosives. The heavily damaged (but
still driveable, without the use of any new parts) Hilux now stands
on a plinth in the
Top Gear studio.
Another such review featured a
Ford
Fiesta, after Hammond read out a letter from a viewer
complaining that "
Top Gear cannot review cars properly any
more".
Clarkson gave the model a sarcastic, but
thorough, appraisal and was then pursued around Festival
Place
shopping centre by a
Chevrolet Corvette. The
Fiesta was then used as a beach
landing
craft with the
Royal
Marines.
Occasionally, many cars are featured and reviewed inside one
segment. In the "Scooter Road Test Russian Roulette Challenge" of
series six, episode nine, Hammond and May worked as ScooterMen in
order to road-test as many randomly-selected cars as possible, the
catch being that they wouldn't know what they'd be road-testing and
have to review the vehicles in the presence of the owners.
Exotic or foreign cars are occasionally also reviewed in unusual
ways. In the "VIP Chauffeur" test of series eleven, episode six,
May conducted road tests in Japan of the
Mitsuoka Orochi and
Galue, and used the Galue to chauffeur a
Sumo wrestler and his manager to a
tournament as a way to test if the car is "Japan's
Rolls-Royce".
During its release in 2008, the
Dacia
Sandero was frequently mentioned as a
running gag in the show's News feature, with the
presenters' increasingly sarcastic excitement highlighting their
opinion that the car was of no real importance to anybody. In the
first episode of series 14, the crew actually went to Romania,
where Sandero is built. While there, Jeremy bought a Sandero for
May, but it was promptly crushed by a lorry.
Significant cars
The programme occasionally celebrates anniversaries of notable
vehicles, presenting short review films of non-contemporary cars to
highlight why they are historically significant. These reviews are
distinct from the various challenges involving old cars, because
the subject matter is addressed in a more serious and factual
manner. Reviews include:
| Car |
Series & episode |
| Ford Escort
RS1800 |
Series One, Episode Two |
| Citroën DS |
Series One, Episode Three |
| Bentley T2 |
Series Two, Episode One |
| Rover P5 |
Series Two, Episode Two |
Jaguar Le Mans C-Type & Mark 2 |
Series Two, Episode Four |
| Triumph TR6 |
Series Two, Episode Five |
| GM HyWire |
Series Two, Episode Nine |
| BMW M1,
M3 & M5 |
Series Three, Episode Two |
| Lamborghini
Miura |
Series Three, Episode Four |
| Lamborghini
Countach |
Series Three, Episode Four |
Volkswagen
Corrado
VR6 &
Mercedes-Benz
190E 2.5-16 Cosworth |
Series Three, Episode Five |
| Aston Martin
V8 Vantage |
Series Three, Episode Six |
| Mercedes-Benz
280SL |
Series Three, Episode Eight |
| Aston Martin
Lagonda |
Series Three, Episode Eight |
| Dodge Charger 440
R/T |
Series Four, Episode Three |
| Jaguar XJS |
Series Four, Episode Six |
| Rover V8 engine & Rover SD1 |
Series Four, Episode Eight |
| Mercedes-Benz 300SL
Gullwing |
Series Five, Episode Five |
| Maserati Biturbo &
250F |
Series Six, Episode Two |
| Maserati
Bora |
Series Six, Episode Three |
| Aston Martin DB5 &
Jaguar E-type |
Series Six, Episode Five |
| Ford Transit |
Series Six, Episode Seven |
| British racing
green & Vanwall F1 |
Series Seven, Episode Two |
Modern control layout Featuring:
Benz Motorwagen,
Royal Enfield quad bike,
De Dion-Bouton,
Ford Model T,
Cadillac Type 53,
Austin 7 |
Series Ten, Episode Eight |
| Ferrari
Daytona |
Series Twelve, Episode Five |
British
Touring Car Championship Featuring:
Jaguar Mark 2,
Ford Falcon,
Chevrolet Camaro,
Ford Mustang,
Leyland Mini,
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth |
Series Twelve, Episode Seven |
Car of the Year
At the end of each autumn series the hosts present an award to
their favourite car of the year. The only criterion for the award
is that all three presenters must come to a unanimous choice.
Winners have included:
Ownership survey
From 2003 to 2006,
Top Gear conducted an annual survey
which consults thousands of UK residents on their car-ownership
satisfaction. The survey asks respondents to score cars on build
quality, craftsmanship, driving experience, ownership costs, and
customer care. While for legal reasons the survey is now conducted
via the
Top Gear
magazine, the results are still used on the show. The survey,
formerly undertaken in conjunction with
J.D. Power, is now conducted by
Experian. Based on these weighted criteria,
the best and worst ranked cars from the survey are:
Ending credits
For the special episodes, the programme alters the end credits to
reflect its locale, replacing everybody's first name with one
reminiscent of the area. The first time this was done was for the
"
Winter Olympics
Special" episode, filmed in Lillehammer, Norway, where
everybody was named
Björn (except
for Hammond, May and The Stig, who took the names
Benny,
Agnetha and
Anni-Frid who are the members of
ABBA). The end credits of the American Road Trip
episode in series 9 named Clarkson as 'Cletus Clarkson', Hammond as
'Earl Hammond Jr.', May as 'Ellie May May', The Stig as 'Rosco P.
Stig' and replaced the first names of all other crew members with
'Billy Bob'.
Furthermore, in the Polar Special all first names in the ending
credits were replaced with Sir Ranulph, in reference to the
explorer
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who
had also made an appearance early in the episode. In the
African Adventure
Special all were called
Archbishop
Desmond, while for the
Vietnam road trip special,
everyone's first name was replaced with
Francis Ford as a nod to the
Vietnam War epic
Apocalypse Now.
The one regular episode where the credits were tampered with was
the
last episode of
series 8. Reflecting the episode's main challenge, Clarkson,
Hammond and May's first names were altered to those supposedly
typical of van drivers; Lee, Wayne and Terry respectively.
Soundtrack
Top Gear has used an adaptation of
The Allman Brothers Band's
instrumental hit "
Jessica" as its
theme song since the original series started in
1977. The show used part of the original Allmans' recording of the
song up until the late 1990s, but later series and the 2002
relaunch use updated
cover
versions.
During series 6, May hosted a segment showing nominations for the
greatest song to drive to, the final list of ten was voted for by
write-in nominations on the
Top Gear website, the top five
were then submitted for phone vote by viewers of the show. Songs in
the top 10 were:
It included continual complaining from the presenters about the
presence of "Bat Out of Hell" on the list (which was leading as of
the selection of the top five) and its promotional segment included
such visuals as cars being towed away and gridlocked streets. On
the other hand, the equivalent "Don't Stop Me Now" segment was the
exact opposite, featuring open roads and being described as "a joy"
and "a song for life" in the voiceover.
In addition, pre-recorded film segments feature a variety of music
clips. Along with classic, contemporary, post-rock and occasional
dance tracks, excerpts from film and video game soundtracks are
used, including
Halo,
The Lord of the
Rings,
Star Wars,
Back to the
Future,
The Matrix,
The Guns of
Navarone,
The
Battle of Britain,
The Dark Knight,
Tom Clancy's Splinter
Cell: Chaos Theory,
Command and Conquer: Red
Alert and
Command and Conquer 3:
Tiberium Wars.
DVD and CD releases
Top Gear has released several collections of "driving
songs" on CD. These releases started during the original series run
in the 1990s (though this list only reflects releases made during
the current presentation format).
| Name |
Release date |
Notes |
| Top Gear: The Greatest Driving Album This Year! |
10 November 2003 |
2-CD package |
| Top Gear: The Ultimate Driving Experience |
14 November 2005 |
2-CD box set |
| Top Gear Anthems 2007: The Greatest Ever Driving
Songs |
21 May 2007 |
2-CD package. The first four tracks are selections from the top
driving songs as decided in series six. |
| Top Gear: Seriously Cool Driving Music |
12 November 2007 |
2-CD package |
| Top Gear Anthems: The Greatest |
December 2007 |
3-CD package, import |
| Top Gear Anthems 2008: Seriously Hot Driving
Music |
2 June 2008 |
2-CD package |
| Top Gear: Sub Zero Driving Anthems |
17 November 2008 |
2-CD package |
| Top Gear: Seriously Rock 'N' Roll |
2009 |
2-CD package
|
A number of DVDs have also been released.
| Name |
Release date |
Notes |
| Top Gear: Back in the Fast Lane — The Best of Series 1
& 2 |
27 October 2003 |
Includes highlights from series 1 and 2. |
| Top Gear: The Best of Series Three and Four |
TG magazine (April 2004) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine, containing 33 minutes
of footage from the third and fourth series, some of which was
originally unbroadcast. |
| New Jaguar XK & Aston Martin V8 at the Ring |
TG magazine (May 2005) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine, an hour-long DVD
narrated by Richard Hammond and presented by German Top
Gear presenter Sabine Schmitz. |
| Top Gear: Revved Up |
6 June 2005 |
Contains highlights from series 3–5, along with outtakes and
other unbroadcast material. |
| Top Gear's 007: The Best Car Chases |
TG magazine (September 2005) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine, containing 37 minutes
of clips from 13 James Bond
films. |
| Top Gear: The Races |
TG magazine (March 2006) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine, containing 33 minutes
of three Top Gear races featured during series 1–7. |
| Top Gear: Winter Olympics |
5 June 2006 |
Contains Winter Olympics Special from series 7,
outtakes and additional footage. |
| Top Gear: The Collection |
18 December 2006 |
Contains Revved Up, Winter Olympics and
Back in the Fast Lane. |
| Top Gear: The Challenges |
TG magazine (May 2007) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine, a compilation of
Top Gear challenges. |
| Top Gear's Greatest Movie Chases Ever |
TG magazine (July 2007) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine, containing 45 minutes
of clips from ten classic car chase movies. |
| Richard Hammond's Top Gear Interactive Challenge |
12 November 2007 |
Interactive DVD presented by Richard Hammond, containing
Top Gear-style quizzes, challenges and competitions. |
| Top Gear: The Great Adventures |
3 March 2008 |
Includes the Polar Challenge (Director's Cut) and
American Road Trip specials, featuring additional material
and outtakes. |
| Top Gear: Planes, Rockets and Automobiles |
TG magazine (April 2008) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine and containing 45
minutes of clips mostly taken from The Challenges 2
DVD. |
| Top Gear: The Challenges 2 |
2 June 2008 |
Second compilation of Top Gear challenges, including
outtakes and additional material. |
| Top Gear Polar Special: The Director's Cut |
20 October 2008 |
Extended cut of the Polar Special, only available on
Blu-ray Disc. |
| Top Gear: The Challenges 1 & 2 Collection |
10 November 2008 |
Contains The Challenges and The Challenges
2. |
| Richard Hammond's Top Gear Interactive Stunt
Challenge |
14 November 2008 |
Interactive DVD presented by Richard Hammond, containing
Top Gear-style quizzes, challenges and competitions. |
| Top Gear: The Great Adventures Vol. 2 |
23 March 2009 |
Includes Botswana and Vietnam Road Trip
specials (the former in an extended cut), featuring audio
commentary, deleted scenes and photos. |
| Top Gear: The Best of The Stig |
TG magazine (April 2009) |
Issued with Top Gear magazine, containing 60 minutes
of footage. |
| Top Gear: The Complete Tenth Series |
21 April 2009 |
Includes all ten episodes from the tenth series (only released
in the US, Australia and Canada). |
| Top Gear: Collection 2.0 |
28 April 2009 |
Includes The Challenges Vol. 1 and The
Great Adventures Vol. 1 (only released in
Australia). |
| Top Gear: The Challenges 3 |
8 June 2009 |
A third selection of challenges, taken from series 10–12. |
| Top Gear: The Great Adventures Collection |
16 November 2009 |
A box-set containing the previous four Great
Adventures along with new bonus features. |
| Top Gear Uncovered: The DVD Special |
16 November 2009 |
Presented by Richard Hammond and containing previously
unbroadcast material. |
| Top Gear: The Complete Eleventh Series |
12 January 2010 |
Includes all six episodes from the eleventh series (released in
the US and Canada). |
| Top Gear: The Complete Twelfth Series |
12 January 2010 |
Includes all seven episodes from the twelfth series and the
Vietnam Special (released in the US and Canada). |
Awards and nominations
In November 2005,
Top Gear won an
International Emmy in the
Non-Scripted Entertainment category.
In the episode where
the presenters showed the award to the studio audience, Clarkson
joked that he was unable to go to New York
to receive the award since he was too busy writing
the script for the show.
Top Gear has also been nominated in three consecutive
years (2004–2006) for the
British Academy Television
Awards in the Best Feature category. Clarkson was also
nominated in the best "Entertainment Performance" category in 2006.
In 2004 and 2005,
Top Gear was also nominated for a
National Television Award
in the Most Popular Factual Programme category; it won the award in
2006, 2007 and 2008. Accepting the award in October 2007, Richard
Hammond made the comment that they really deserved it this year,
because he didn't have to crash to get some sympathy votes.
Top Gear presenters have also announced on the show that
they have won some slightly lower profile awards. In Series 10,
Richard Hammond won the award for the "Best TV Haircut" and James
May won the award for the worst. All three presenters have won the
award for
Heat magazine's
"weirdest celebrity crush" revealed during the news. In series 11,
the Stig won an award from the
Scouts for
Services to Instruction. After revealing that, the Stig was shown
"attacking" the Scouts, and the presenters coming to the conclusion
that he is either terrified of Scouts or was a
Girl Guide.
Criticism
Top
Gear has often been criticised for content inside programmes
by the public and Ofcom
. Most
of these stem from comments from the presenting team; however,
other aspects of the programme have been underlined as unsuitable.
Incidents and content ranging from (but not limited to) offensive
remarks, promoting irresponsible driving, environmental issues,
bigotry and
homophobia have generated complaints from people,
groups, and government.
Clarkson himself has been critical of the BBC over handling of the
programme. In the February 2006 issue of
Top Gear
magazine, Clarkson voiced his opinion that the BBC did not take
Top Gear seriously. He has also commented on his dislike
of BBC bosses for choosing the length of the series and for often
replacing the show with
snooker (which
Clarkson labelled as "drunk men playing
billiards"), despite
Top Gear
having considerably higher viewing figures.
International productions
United States
In April 2007, the BBC reported on a
Sun story that
Top Gear had been in
talks about creating an American version. The current presenters
would remain as hosts, but the show would focus on American cars
and include American celebrities.
The Sun reported in
July, however, that plans for an American version had been shelved,
partly over Clarkson's misgivings about spending several months in
the U.S., away from his family.
In June 2008,
NBC announced it ordered a pilot
episode for an American version of
Top Gear, to be
produced by
BBC America (who also
broadcast the British version of the show), and presented by
television and radio host
Adam Carolla,
stunt driver
Tanner Foust, and
television carpenter
Eric Stromer. To
date, NBC has not placed the programme on its schedule, holding it
as a spring/summer season replacement.
In February 2009, Jeremy Clarkson (while in Australia during an
interview about the
Top Gear Australia spin-off),
commented that the U.S. version of the show had been "canned". He
went on to say that the Americans "don't get it".
Australia
On 19 November 2007, it was revealed that a localised
Australian series of
Top Gear would be
produced by the
Special
Broadcasting Service network in conjunction with Freehand
Productions, BBC Worldwide's Australasian partner. This
announcement marks the first time a deal has been struck for a
version of
Top Gear to be produced exclusively for a
foreign market. No indication was given as to the exact makeup of
the show, other than that it would have a distinct Australian
style. SBS ran a competition to find hosts for the show, and in May
2008 confirmed that the presenters for the Australian programme
were to be
Charlie Cox,
Warren Brown,
Steve Pizzati and a local 'cousin' of The
Stig.
Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson added, "I'm delighted
that
Top Gear is going to Australia."It was announced that
the
Nine Network had secured the rights
to the local and UK versions from 2010.
Russia
On 14 October 2008, the
Top Gear website confirmed that a
Russian edition of the programme was scheduled for production by
the end of that year. Initially, 15 episodes were scheduled. It was
revealed on 20 December that the pilot, branded
Top Gear:
Russian Version, was filmed for broadcast on 22 February 2009.
The format is similar to its British counterpart, with three hosts:
Nikolai Fomenko, Oscar Kuchera, and
Mikhail Petrovsky.
References
- MPH Show 2008 Producers
- MPH Show 2008 featuring Top Gear Live
- BBC Radio 1: Chris Moyles interview
- Radio Times 21–27 June 2008: Changing Gear
- Top Gear Power Laps Top Gear Website Retrieved
on 2006.11.13 ( In order to qualify for the power laps board, a
car must be road legal and be a car. For this reason, the F1 car
(0.59.0), Aston Martin DBR9 (1.08.6) and Sea Harrier (0.31.2) do
not appear.
- Bafta TV Awards 2006: The shortlist |accessdate =
2008-11-25.
- Awards for Top Gear. IMDb. Retrieved on 1
January 2006.
- >
- Top Gear goes Russia TopGear.com
(2008-10-14)
- Final Gear — Top Gear Russia Pilot Has Been Filmed,
Airs February 22nd
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