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Top Gear

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Top Gear
TopGearUK.jpg
Premiere November 20, 2002
Airs Sundays at 8PM (USA)
Creator Jeremy Clarkson,
Andy Wilman
Host Jeremy Clarkson (2002-15)
Richard Hammond (2002-15)
James May (2003-15)
Chris Evans (2016)
Network/Provider BBC Two
Style 60-minute motoring comedy
Company BBC
Seasons 24
Episodes 184 (2 unaired) + 11 specials (through season 23)
Status Currently airing season 24
Origin UK
Official Site BBC
Top Gear

Top Gear is a BBC show about cars and motorsports, and the UK's number one motoring show. Airing on BBC Two, Sunday nights at 8pm, the show takes a light-hearted and often hilarious look at cars, motoring and destroying caravans. Until 2015, Top Gear was hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.

Top Gear first orginally aired in 1977 as a 30 minute long show. It was a fairly conventional magazine show reviewing new cars and following other car-related issues and news. The show became much more popular in the early 1990s with the arrival of Jeremy Clarkson, who helped steer the show into becoming more humorous and controversial. Following Clarkson's departure from the show in 1999, the show lost over half its audience, prompting the BBC to cancel the series in 2001. The remaining presenters jumped ship to a new network and launched a similar show, Fifth Gear.

Top Gear returned in 2002, under a new format pitched by Jeremy Clarkson and executive producer Andy Wilman. The show was lengthened to one hour and introduced new elements, such as The Stig, and new features: Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, Power Laps, the "Cool Wall", and a car news segment. In addition, there are frequent features such as competitions between the presenters, races, and fairly outlandish stunts.

The first season was presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and Jason Dawe. Dawe's contribution to the first season was mainly presenting different bargains for used and new cars. Dawe was replaced by James May in the second season. The eighth season brought a new "co-host" in the form of Top Gear Dog, a labradoodle, but Top Gear Dog all but disappeared from the studio segments in the ninth season.

Note: Some episode articles contain currency conversions. These were made at the time the articles were written and may no longer be accurate. Conversions were done directly and may not reflect pricing changes made for different markets.

Contents

Seasons

Season  Premiere Finale #
BBC Two
Season One November 20, 2002 December 29, 2002 10
Season Two May 11, 2003 July 20, 2003 10
Season Three October 26, 2003 December 28, 2003 9
Season Four May 9, 2004 August 1, 2004 10
Season Five October 24, 2004 December 26, 2004 9
Season Six May 22, 2005 August 7, 2005 11
Season Seven November 13, 2005 February 12, 2006 7
Season Eight May 7, 2006 July 30, 2006 8
Season Nine January 28, 2007 July 25, 2007 7
Season Ten October 7, 2007 December 23, 2007 10
Season Eleven June 22, 2008 July 27, 2008 6
Season Twelve November 2, 2008 December 28, 2008 8
Season Thirteen June 21, 2009 August 2, 2009 7
Season Fourteen November 15, 2009 January 3, 2010 7
Season Fifteen June 27, 2010 August 1, 2010 6
Season Sixteen January 23, 2011 February 27, 2011 6 + 2
Season Seventeen June 26, 2011 July 31, 2011 6
Season Eighteen January 29, 2012 March 11, 2012 7 + 1
Season Nineteen January 27, 2013 March 10, 2013 7
Season Twenty June 30, 2013 August 4, 2013 6
Season Twenty-One February 2, 2014 March 16, 2014 7
Season Twenty-Two January 25, 2015 March 8, 2015 12
Season Twenty-Three May 29, 2016 July 3, 2016 6
Season Twenty-Four March 5, 2017 7

In-Depth

  • At a Glance: Additional information about the series
  • Star in a Reasonably Priced Car: A star in a reasonably priced car completes a lap around the Top Gear test track. Complete results.
  • Power Laps: The Stig takes a car and completes a lap around the Top Gear test track. Complete Results.
  • The Test Track: The Top Gear Test Track.

DVD Releases

Title Release Discs
Episode Collections  (Region 1)
Top Gear - Back in the Fast Lane October 27, 2003 1
Top Gear - Revved Up June 6, 2005 1
Top Gear - Winter Olympics June 5, 2006 1
Season Sets  (Region 1)
The Complete Season 10 April 21, 2009 3
The Complete Season 11 January 12, 2010 purchase 2
The Complete Season 12 January 12, 2010 purchase 4
The Complete Season 13 September 28, 2010 purchase 3

Links