Top Gear

Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.

Seasons

45

Episodes aired

518

Latest aired

S45E36

Total runtime

1d 7h

Timeline when each season aired

1. Season 1 July 1978 – September 1978 10 episodes
2. Season 2 May 1979 – July 1979 10 episodes
3. Season 3 April 1980 – May 1980 6 episodes
4. Season 4 September 1980 – October 1980 6 episodes
5. Season 5 April 1981 – June 1981 8 episodes
6. Season 6 November 1981 – December 1981 7 episodes
7. Season 7 April 1982 – June 1982 8 episodes
8. Season 8 September 1982 – October 1982 6 episodes
9. Season 9 January 1983 – April 1983 9 episodes
10. Season 10 September 1983 – October 1983 8 episodes
11. Season 11 February 1984 – April 1984 8 episodes
12. Season 12 October 1984 – December 1984 7 episodes
13. Season 13 March 1985 – April 1985 9 episodes
14. Season 14 September 1985 – October 1985 8 episodes
15. Season 15 April 1986 – June 1986 10 episodes
16. Season 16 September 1986 – October 1986 8 episodes
17. Season 17 April 1987 – May 1987 8 episodes
18. Season 18 September 1987 – November 1987 11 episodes
19. Season 19 April 1988 – May 1988 8 episodes
20. Season 20 September 1988 – November 1988 8 episodes
21. Season 21 March 1989 – May 1989 8 episodes
22. Season 22 September 1989 – November 1989 10 episodes
23. Season 23 March 1990 – May 1990 8 episodes
24. Season 24 September 1990 – November 1990 10 episodes
25. Season 25 February 1991 – May 1991 10 episodes
26. Season 26 September 1991 – December 1991 14 episodes
27. Season 27 February 1992 – May 1992 11 episodes
28. Season 28 September 1992 – December 1992 13 episodes
29. Season 29 February 1993 – June 1993 17 episodes
30. Season 30 September 1993 – December 1993 16 episodes
31. Season 31 March 1994 – May 1994 11 episodes
32. Season 32 September 1994 – December 1994 13 episodes
33. Season 33 February 1995 – May 1995 13 episodes
34. Season 34 September 1995 – December 1995 14 episodes
35. Season 35 February 1996 – May 1996 14 episodes
36. Season 36 September 1996 – December 1996 14 episodes
37. Season 37 January 1997 – May 1997 20 episodes
38. Season 38 September 1997 – December 1997 16 episodes
39. Season 39 February 1998 – May 1998 13 episodes
40. Season 40 September 1998 – December 1998 15 episodes
41. Season 41 March 1999 – June 1999 12 episodes
42. Season 42 September 1999 – December 1999 14 episodes
43. Season 43 January 2000 – May 2000 18 episodes
44. Season 44 September 2000 – December 2000 15 episodes
45. Season 45 February 2001 – December 2001 36 episodes

• 1

  S01E01 Stig Outruns a Speed Camera

  July 13 · 59min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  The big holiday rush begins this weekend and many drivers plan to travel through Friday night. How dangerous is this practice? What are the stress factors and what are the signs of fatigue? Angela finds out for herself by night driving to the West Country. Twenty people are killed and over 200 seriously injured each week yet these figures could be cut to one tenth if we used our seat belts. Should we leave it to persuasion or is compulsion the final answer?

• 2

  S01E02 A Bus Jumps Not-Very-Many Motorbikes

  July 20 · 59min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  The training of a British police driver is said to be the best in the world, but what makes it so good? Angela becomes a pupil of the Police Training Centre at Hendon and discovers rather more than she expected about her own driving standards. The Scottish Six-day Trial. The world's top trials riders spend a week in the mountains around Fort William in fierce and punishing competition.

• 3

  S01E03 Grannies Do Donuts

  July 27 · 59min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  The MOT test continues to be controversial. Is the interpretation consistent from station to station and does the motorist get a fair deal? Angela makes a comparison between the British system and the way it is done in Belgium, where they have been testing longer than anywhere else in Europe. Motor Caravans Reporter Mike Woodhead and family have their first experience of this fast-expanding do-it-yourself type of holiday.

• 4

  S01E04 Episode 4

  August 3 · 57min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  Tonight Angela Rippon reports from Northern Ireland where to park your car can cost £600, a taxi fare is cheaper than a bus ride and where you are twice as likely to be killed in a road accident as in the rest of the UK. Driven to Drink. How much alcohol can you take and still drive safely? Mike Dornan reports on a special test day at Brands Hatch.

• 5

  S01E05 The Team Turns a Rover 800 Into a Bond Car

  August 10 · 59min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  Tonight Angela Rippon climbs into the cab to report on the latest situation about tachographs in lorries. Colin Chapman talks to Barrie Gill about this season's Formula One motor racing scene.

• 6

  S01E06 The Grannies Learn How to Handbrake Park

  August 17 · 58min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  Angela attends the finals of a nationwide search to find a girl rally driver who can take her place beside international stars Roger Clark and Russell Brookes. Predictably she takes a turn at the rally wheel herself. Rust and corrosion cost the British motorist £200-million a year. But savings could be made. Barrie Gill reports.

• 7

  S01E07 The Team Finds the Fastest Faith

  August 24 · 59min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  Traffic jams make the headlines almost every weekend of the summer. When the cause is an accident, the emergency services often have difficulty getting to the scene and the police can do little to ease the congestion. Faced with similar problems seven years ago Belgium solved theirs by using helicopters.

• 8

  S01E08 Gambon Corner Gets Its Name

  August 31 · 59min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  Every year a quarter of a million people go to Le Mans to watch this premier sports car race in the international calendar. This year Top Gear cameras followed the fortunes—and misfortunes—of the Ian Bracey entry, the Ibec-Hesketh 308LM, from the moment when it made its debut at Donnington Park and then throughout the 24-hours-race, until the final climax.

• 9

  S01E09 The Stripped-Out Jaguar XJS

  September 7 · 59min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  Top Gear invited international teams of four-wheel-drive vehicles to decide who is King of the Country. Could cross-country cars from the US, France, Japan or Russia break the time put up by the British Rovers round a specially designed course through the mud of tank terrain in Dorset?

• 10

  S01E10 The Team Finds Out the Fastest Faith - Again

  September 14 · 58min find the promo

  Show synopsis

  Brum revs up for the Motor Show. The largest Motor Show ever held in Britain opens its doors in five weeks' time at the National Exhibition Centre, near Birmingham. Angela Rippon and Barric Gill report on the plans, facilities and entertainment in a special preview edition of Top Gear.