Top Gear TV Series

Top Gear is a BAFTA and Emmy award winning British 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 has featured three different test drivers known as The Stig. The programme is estimated to have 350 million viewers worldwide and is heavily downloaded from peer to peer file sharing services, with roughly 300,000 downloads per episode via torrent programs. First run episodes are broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two, and since Series 14, also on BBC HD. Sixteen series have been broadcast, and the seventeenth series started on 26 June 2011. 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 caravans and, more recently, Morris Marinas.