Top Gear: Ten series and counting

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05 October 2007

The tenth series of Top Gear helmed by Messrs Clarkson, Hammond, and a strange mute in a white helmet races onto our screens this weekend.

Vijay Pattni takes a stroll down memory lane and looks at how the iconic motoring show has evolved.

Click here to see our Top Gear slide show

Noel Edmonds. Angela Rippon. And Birmingham

The very first Top Gear which aired in 1977 took a straightforward approach to motoring and road safety issues, which meant nobody had a bee in their bonnet over the car programme.

But everything changed when a certain motoring journalist was appointed as presenter.

And in 2002, three years after Clarkson had left the original-format show, producers sat down with a plan to bring back Top Gear – but not as we knew it.

The new show would now be an hour-long episode which centred heavily on entertainment, humour and eventually, near disaster.

Series One:

The brand new Top Gear exploded onto an unsuspecting public, with the very first episode attempting to avoid speed camera detection – at 170mph.

Harry Enfield was the first Star in a Reasonably Priced Car – the interview section where celebrities have the honour of lapping the Top Gear test track in a humble four-door saloon.

It-Girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson featured in the sixth episode which also saw the launch of the infamous cool wall, where pictures of cars would be placed in categories of ‘seriously uncool’, ‘uncool’, ‘cool’, and ‘sub-zero’.

Jeremy explained: “Cool has nothing to do with good looks, build quality or driving dynamics - just, well, coolness.”

Series Two:

The second series saw the arrival of a new presenter – James May – otherwise known as Captain Slow.

James May started out providing top tips for new car buyers but even his knowledge couldn’t prevent Starsky and Hutch star David Soul from breaking the Reasonably Priced Car – twice.

Series Three:

Jeremy kicked off the third series with a review of the Ford GT. He raved about it in Detroit (while avoiding being shot), and eventually bought one.

This series also saw the (staged) demise of the Stig, as he careered off HMS Invincible trying to beat a Jet fighter’s take-off time.

And so it was, a new Stig arrived and said – nothing.

Series Four:

The gorgeous Aston Martin DB9 was the real star of the first episode, as Jeremy raced Richard and James in an epic challenge to discover which was faster – car or public transport.

Later on in the series, Hammond and May devised a genius game for bored quarry-owners with an unusually large stock of run-down motors – car darts.

Series Five:

Clarkson refused to believe the new Astra would look exactly like the concept, and vowed to eat his own hair if it did.

Jeremy is not a man to mince his words, so Chef Anthony Worrall Thompson decided to mince his hair instead – and served it up to Jezza in an omelette.

The big man also raced a diesel around the Nurburgring in 9 minutes 59 seconds – before having his time beaten by a woman who completed a lap in 9 minutes 12 seconds.

Series Six:

To fulfil his lifelong ambition to emulate his favourite rock stars, Jeremy bought a Rolls and fixed it up (himself) – before driving it straight into a swimming pool.

The team also took on another epic challenge – to race a Mercedes-McLaren SLR against a variety of boats to the finishing point in Norway. James and Richard nearly drowned, and Jeremy nearly fell asleep at the wheel.

But it wasn’t the first time Hammond faced his own mortality – he volunteered to be chased down by raging bulls in the centre of Spain to test drive the Lamborghini Roadster.

Series Seven:

James and Richard raced full-size radio-controlled cars and were beaten around a track by a teenage girl, while Jeremy was beaten by a couple of professional rock-climbers to the top of a cliff, despite driving the new Audi RS4.

But the highlight was undoubtedly the 1,001bhp Bugatti Veyron – Jeremy raced against Hammond and May who looked like they were piloting a flying-toaster in James’s Cessna 182 plane.

Series Eight:

The plucky trio applied their years of motoring experience and attempted to make amphibious cars in a bid to cross a reservoir. Captain Slow was crowned the winner while the other two sank.

And there was a new kid on the block – the Suzuki Liana had been replaced with a Chevrolet Lacetti.

Series Nine:

The first show of the ninth series was the most watched Top Gear ever – Richard’s dramatic 288mph crash in a jet-propelled dragster was broadcast for the very first time. While it was uncomfortable viewing, it made his recovery seem all the more miraculous.

Captain Slow refused to live up to his nickname and took a Veyron to its limits – 252mph.

The three presenters also took a trip to America, buying used cars and travelling cross-country – before the good ol’ US of A took a dislike to them and chased them out of town.

Series Ten:

Click here for our guide to what’s happening in the new series

Top Gear video: Bloopers

Watch the team as they fluff their way through filming.