Top Gear

Top Gear is a British television show about motor vehicles, primarily cars, and is the world's most widely watched factual television programme. 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 and sometimes controversial style. The show is currently presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, and has featured at least three different test drivers known as The Stig. The programme is estimated to have around 350 million views per week in 170 different countries 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. Eighteen series have been broadcast, the most recent of which finished on 11 March 2012. According to Jeremy Clarkson, the next episode will be at Christmas 2012, after which series 19 will premiere in January 2013. The show has received acclaim for its visual style and presentation, and criticism for its content and comments made by presenters. Columnist A. A. Gill, close friend of Clarkson and fellow Sunday Times columnist, described the show as a triumph of the craft of programme making, of the minute, obsessive, musical masonry of editing, the French polishing of colourwashing and grading.