Top Gear 12

The world's biggest car show returns, and this series kicks off with a crash, a bang and an overwhelming smell of burning when Jeremy, Richard and James buy second-hand trucks and turn their hands to being truck drivers - which turns out to be a lot harder than they thought. The boys travel to the USA to take three new generation big-engine 'muscle' cars on an epic road trip from San Francisco to the heart of Utah; are challenged to drive from the heart of Switzerland to the North West coast of England on just one tank of fuel and James travels to the frozen North to discover why the Finns are such good racing drivers. All the tried-and-tested Top Gear favorite segments return too, including the Stig, the news; the 'cool wall' and the 'Star in the Reasonably Priced Car', which in this series features chat show legend Michael Parkinson, London Mayor Boris Johnson, musical legend Tom Jones and Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg.

Episode 1
Top Gear returns with a crash, a bang and an overwhelming smell of burning. Jeremy, Richard and James decide to buy second-hand lorries, despite knowing almost nothing about the world of trucks, and then set about discovering how easy it is to be an HGV (heavy goods vehicle) driver - which turns out to be a lot harder than they thought. Also in this episode, Jeremy is on the test track with a scary Porsche 911, a tame Lamborghini Gallardo and a surprisingly talented Labrador, and chat-show legend Michael Parkinson is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

Episode 2
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May travel to the USA to take three new generation muscle cars on an epic road trip from San Francisco to the heart of Utah. And after the excitement of their last American road trip, this time they do their best to avoid letting a mob of angry locals pelt them with rocks. Meanwhile, back in the UK, Jeremy scampers around the test track in the feisty new Fiat 500 Abarth and pop idol Will Young is the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car.

Episode 3
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May take on the challenge of making an ordinary second-hand car lap the test track as fast as a brand-new, purpose-built sports saloon. Also in the show, James travels to the frozen North and enlists the help of F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen in a quest to discover why the Finns are such good racing drivers. Meanwhile, Richard hammers around the track in the outlandish Veritas sports car, and Mark Wahlberg is the Hollywood Star In A Reasonably Priced Car.

Episode 4
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are challenged to drive from the heart of Switzerland to the North Western coast of England on just one tank of fuel. And as an incentive, the first one to arrive gets to turn on the Blackpool Illuminations. Back at the track, James tackles his first-ever power test in the amazing Pagani Zonda F Roadster and, after years of waiting, The Stig finally gets to set a lap time in the remarkable Bugatti Veyron.

Episode 5
Richard Hammond celebrates the 40th birthday of the iconic Ferrari Daytona. The Nissan GT-R is given a thorough work out around Japan's legendary Fuji circuit.
Richard Hammond celebrates the 40th birthday of the iconic Ferrari Daytona by taking one back to its spiritual home on the Riviera before attempting to beat James May and a multi-million-pound power boat in a race from Portofino to St Tropez. Meanwhile, back in the UK Jeremy Clarkson is out on the test track testing the new BMW M3 saloon against a young pretender from Japan, the Lexus IS-F. Top Gear also tackles a political hot potato as Richard attempts to find the best sort of bus for British city streets by getting together everything from a hopper to a bendy bus and then having a race with them. Also, Grand Designs property guru Kevin McCloud is the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car.

Episode 6
Jeremy Clarkson and James May invade Greenham Common airbase to ask the question, did the Communists ever make a good car? Meanwhile, out on the test track, Richard Hammond goes crazy in the Veritas, a surprisingly insane sports car from Germany, and Jeremy conducts an almost ridiculously thorough road test of the new Ford Fiesta. Plus, mop-haired London mayor Boris Johnson is the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car.

Episode 7
James May travels to California to take a look at what is being hailed as the future of motoring - the hydrogen-powered Honda Clarity. Meanwhile, out on the test track, Jeremy Clarkson has a high-voltage encounter with the Tesla, a battery powered super-car, and Richard Hammond takes an affectionate look back at 50 years of Touring Car racing. The Star In A Reasonably Priced Car. is none other than living legend Tom Jones and, because it's almost Christmas, there'll be some festive fun and games in the studio to boot.

Episode 8: Vietnam Special
Top Gear ends the current series in epic style as Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May travel to Vietnam. Their aim is to travel the entire length of the country in just eight days, thereby achieving what the American military failed to do in 10 years. However, first they must each buy some suitable transport for the trip and, despite having several million Dong in their pockets, this proves to be of rather less value than they originally thought, especially in one of the most expensive car markets in the world. Nonetheless, the boys are resourceful and, with their wheels finally sorted, they set off on one of the most spectacular and incredible Top Gear road trips ever attempted.

Jeremy Clarkson
An acclaimed broadcaster and journalist, Jeremy Clarkson has hosted "Top Gear" since 1988. Born in the decade of the hippie, Jeremy has shunned free love and peace, preferring instead to drive around corners very fast, yelling "POWER" at the top of his lungs.
Jeremy has been accused of some amazing things in his time, including destroying a mountain, destroying the environment and destroying Rover cars. In his defense, the mountain is still there, we can all still breathe and Rover would still be here if their management hadn't been so terrible.

Richard Hammond
Affectionately known as Hamster, Richard Hammond is one of the U.K.‘s most popular broadcasters. He began his career at BBC local radio and first graced British TV screens on the cable channel Men & Motors. He proceeded to work on a number of different motoring and lifestyle programs on cable before realizing his dream of cohosting "Top Gear" in 2002.
A versatile presenter, Richard has hosted TV shows from a variety of genres, including science and nature, children's and sci-fi. Women the world over adore him, something about his puppy dog eyes, and wanting to protect him from the nasty Mr. Clarkson. Richard's hobbies include buying hopeless cars and attempting to restore them.

James May
When James was first introduced on "Top Gear," Jeremy claimed he was "clearly a blithering idiot." The reasoning behind this slightly harsh critique was that James' car at the time was a Bentley T2. His first film on "Top Gear" was him telling people how great it is to own a 25-year-old classic luxury car while at the same time admitting it cost a small fortune to run and fuel.
James admits he was once fired from a job with a well-known magazine for putting a secret message in a supplement. It's exactly this kind of fooling around that makes him perfect for the U.K.‘s favorite motor show. James also has his own pilot's license, which has come in handy on "Top Gear" once already (although it would help more if he was allowed to fly at night).

The Stig
Some say he was forged out of steel and fire in the devil's own pit garage, or that he trickled to the surface of an oil pocket deep in the Earth's crust. What do we know about him? Well, he's a seriously sick driver. He posts the lap times for cars on the Top Gear test track, trains celebrity guests to race in the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car feature, and performs any other crazy tasks asked of him. But all we really know is, he's called the Stig.

"...one of the sharpest programmes on television." Andrew Mueller, Guardian

"Top Gear is a guilty pleasure for those, like me, who hate driving, who earnestly cycle and recycle, who own a clunky, uncool Renault Modus because it could cross the Andes on a teacup of lighter fuel. For most of Top Gear's six million viewers the show is not really about cars at all. (We make tea during the technical blah.) Top Gear is about laughing, hard and long at three boy-men performing dangerous (in a carefully calibrated way), stupid, childish stunts like turning an MG midget into a yacht. Those who witter on that Clarkson driving a Lagonda too fast over the Alps encourages speeding or joyriding, or claim this petrol-headed insanity defies serious attempts to halt global warming, haven't watched Top Gear this century. It is not about the coolness of driving, but the manifest uncoolness of men who enjoy it too much. Indeed Top Gear has become a societal safety valve: they drive lorries through brick walls, send a Robin Reliant into space, sip gin and tonic at the wheel or just go full throttle on an empty road, because we shouldn't or can't." Janice Turner, The Times

"...there can scarcely be a TV viewer in the country who isn't excited about the return of Top Gear for a brand new run." Birmingham Mail

"I never thought I'd say this about a car programme, but I can't get enough of Top Gear. You don't need to know your Fords from your Fiats to enjoy the BBC's most complained about show. Somehow the unlikely medley of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig have become the quintessential presenting quartet, and unite entire families around the box on a Sunday evening." Jade Wright, Liverpool Echo

"Happy days - Clarkson, Hammond, May and The Stig are back for more blokeish fun. Sunday nights weren't the same without them." Sunday Life (Independent Northern Ireland)

"Hurrah - the boys are back in town for a new series." Scottish Daily Record

"Always worth watching, but all the more so when an episode features one of the show's trademark challenges." Andrew Mueller, Guardian

"...another of the crown jewels in its [BBC's] schedule." Henry Deedes, Independent