TOP GEAR

Top Gear is a British motoring magazine, factual television series, con-

ceived by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman, launched on 20 October 2002,
and broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two. The programme is a
relaunched version of the original 1977 show of the same name, which looks
at various motor vehicles, primarily cars. While the original format focused
mainly on review of cars, the 2002 version expanded on this with motoring-
based challenges, special races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity
timed laps on a course specially-designed for the relaunched programme,
with its format developing over time to focus on a more quirky, humorous
and sometimes controversial style of presentation.[2] The programme has re-
ceived acclaim for its visual style and presentation, as well as criticism for
its content.[3][4]
Since 2002, the programme has been presented by several hosts. In its
first series, the show’s line-up was Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Ja-
son Dawe, with Wilman as the show’s executive producer, and introducing
anonymous test driver ”The Stig”, an individual played by numerous racing
drivers over the course of the show’s history. Following the first series, Dawe
was replaced by James May, with the line-up unchanged until the end of the
twenty-second series, when the BBC chose to not renew Clarkson’s contract
on 25 March 2015, following an incident during filming.[5] His dismissal from
Top Gear prompted the departure of Hammond, May and Wilman from the
programme,[1][6][7] and led to them joining Clarkson in forming a new mo-
toring series.[8] For the twenty-third series, the programme was presented
by Chris Evans and American Matt LeBlanc, with them joined by four co-
presenters who would make occasional appearances during its run: Rory
Reid, Sabine Schmitz, Chris Harris and Eddie Jordan.[9][10] After negative
feedback on this series led to Evans resigning from the programme, Harris
and Reid became the main hosts alongside LeBlanc, with Schmitz and Jor-
dan making occasional appearances as co-presenters, from the twenty-fourth
series onwards. The twenty-seventh series features Chris Harris with new
presenters Andrew Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness as the main presenters.
Top Gear has been one of the BBC’s most commercially successful pro-
grammes since its relaunch. It has become a significant show in British
popular culture,[11][12] with episodes also broadcast internationally in many
countries in Europe, North America, South-East Asia and more, making it
the most widely broadcast factual television programme in the world.[13] Its
success has led to various forms of merchandising, including live tours, spe-

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cial DVD editions, and books, as well as spawning a variety of international
versions in various countries, including the United States, Australia, South
Korea, China and France.