Top Gear

Top Gear is a car show shown on BBC Two and once this season finishes, it will have shown 92 episodes since its original debut in 2002. The show has three hosts, all of which with their own personal quirks. Jeremy Clarkson is a tall, old and satirical fellow. He never misses an opportunity to poke fun at society, nationalities or even people in the audience. James May has been dubbed captain slow, mainly because he constantly gets lost and never drives a fast car (excepted when forced to drive the Bugatti Veryon). He always insists on being 'proper' and always tries to one up the other two presenters. Richard Hammond, or hamster, is a short guy who is criticized by the presenters as being on day time television and having had his teeth whitened.

The show has tested the most expensive cars in the world and then gives them to an anonymous test driver, The Stig, to set lap times around Top Gear's personal race track. The crew has also conducted a few epic races. These include a race to the North Pole to see which was faster, a car or a bob sled team. They held a race from England to Verbier Switzerland between a plane and a car. But a more prevalent race was recently held from one side of London to the other to see which was the fastest way to cross a busy city (see clip below). Even though most of their races seem one sided, all of them have been extremely close.

The crew is given a special challenge every once in awhile to see "How hard could it be?" They have created amphibious cars to cross the English Channel, convertible minivans, a space shuttle, construction, and they even tried to grow their own bio-friendly petrol. All of these challenges usually end up in a disaster: two of the three amphibious cars sank, the minivan set a car wash on fire and the space shuttle exploded. The presenters take on the idea of Top Gear being "Ambitious but rubbish."

There are numerous celebrities on the show that partake in the Star in a Resably Priced Car segment. They place a celebrity in a Chevy Lacettie (not sold in America) and time them around the track and then place them against all other celebrities. Stars include Simon Cowell (current leader), Hugh Grant, and even Gordon Ramsey.

While the show pokes fun at cultures and specific groups of people, it is estimated to have over 300 million people tune in world wide each week. It is also one of the most pirated television shows today. You Tube has almost every episode before and after it stopped being broadcast in America. The busy city skit is 23 minutes long but has a good, funny depiction of London today.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Top Gears Website
http://www.topgear.com/