Top Gear series 9

Episodes

Main article: List of Top Gear (2002 TV series) episodes

Note: After its broadcast, the BBC aired three repeats of this episode, but it was never repeated again after this due to the footage of Hammond's crash. However, this episode was added to (in its original form) on BBC iPlayer in 2021 along with all other episodes (including ones that have been edited).

Note: This episode was originally due to have a segment where Clarkson created a mock public information film featuring a train crashing into a car to demonstrate the dangers of stopping on a level crossing. This segment was dropped prior to broadcast and was instead shown three episodes later. Because of this, the episode has a reduced run-time of 53 minutes instead of the typical hour.

Note: The closing credits replaced the first name of the presenters and crew members with references to American redneck stereotypes.

Best-of episodes

Spin-Off Special

Special episode

Criticism and controversy

Main article: Criticism of Top Gear

"Mental" comments

Following the broadcast of the first episode of the series, several viewers complained after watching Clarkson ask Hammond how he felt after the crash with the question "Are you now a mental?", before witnessing May offer him a tissue in case he "dribbled". In response to the complaints, the BBC claimed that the comments had been merely made as a joke, but realised they would have caused offence to mentally disabled and brain-damaged viewers, and thus apologised for failing to consider this.

US Special: Cow on Camaro

Following the airing of the US Special, both the BBC and the UK media regulator Ofcom received 91 complaints in regards to the scene in which Clarkson drove to the trio's campsite with a cow tied to his Camaro. In response to this, the BBC defended the programme by stating that the cow had not been harmed or injured by Clarkson and that it had died several days previously before the scene was filmed.

Level crossing public service video

During episode 5, Clarkson filmed a segment in which he did a public service video about level crossings, with a reconstruction organised by Network Rail as part of their Don't Run The Risk campaign. However, the segment was heavily criticised after it had been aired. Some of the criticism it garnered was due to the fact that it was broadcast two days after the Cumbria train crash, even though the crash had not been caused by a track incursion. Other criticism was on the reconstruction by Network Rail, with Anthony Smith, chief executive of the rail watchdog Passenger Focus, stating that "We need to raise awareness of the issue, but now is not the right time." However, because the item had been delayed for several weeks due to an earlier fatal level crossing crash, it was decided that with only one more programme remaining in the series along with the frequency of level crossing accidents, that there was no other "appropriate" time to show the film without "offending" somebody.

A repeat of the episode was due to be aired on 1 March 2007, but because of another death on a level crossing that had occurred earlier that morning, it was decided that the repeat would not be shown. Instead, it was replaced with the "Best of Top Gear" episode that had been postponed by Hammond's crash.

Polar Special

Following the broadcast of the Polar Special, the BBC Trust found that the scene in which both Jeremy Clarkson and James May were shown to be drinking a gin and tonic whilst driving through an ice field, could "glamorise the misuse of alcohol" and that it "was not editorially justified in the context of a family show pre-watershed", despite the producer's claiming they were beyond the jurisdiction of drink driving laws, and Clarkson stating on the programme that he was not driving but "sailing" (piloting a vehicle on (frozen) water as opposed to actual land).

In addition, Emily Armistead, a speaker of Greenpeace, heavily criticised the episode. In an article by the Daily Express, she condemned the feature as being "highly irresponsible", further adding that Top Gear had taken some of most polluting vehicles on the road to try to destroy the Arctic quicker than climate change was and that Clarkson "represented some climate-sceptic views and for someone to be on national television saying that is quite alarming."

The final car destination shows 78°35'07.0"N 104°11'09.0"W as the North Pole, which is somewhere west of Ellef Ringnes Island, and was the location of the Magnetic North Pole in 1996.

References

References

1. "Weekly Top 10 Programmes". [[Broadcasters' Audience Research Board]].
2. Bellicoso, Louise. (15 February 2007). "Amazing space launch for .Delboy's motor!". Buxton Advertiser.
3. (6 March 2007). "BBC apologises after Clarkson calls Hammond 'mental'". [[Irish Examiner]].
4. (12 February 2007). "Top Gear dead cow stunt garners 91 public complaints". Brand Republic.
5. (25 February 2007). "Top Gear to screen train stunt". [[BBC News Online.
6. (1 March 2007). "One dead in level crossing crash". [[BBC News Online.
7. (2 July 2008). "Top Gear rapped for alcohol use". [[BBC News Online.
8. David Stephenson. (15 July 2007). "Top Gear team in hot water over Pole race". [[Daily Express]].
9. (13 July 2006). "Magnetic North Pole Location, 1996 in Ellef Ringnes Island, Canada (Google Maps)".