2002–2005: Beginnings The first series of the new format of
Top Gear premiered on 20 October 2002. In its early state, the programme's segments were based on elements of the previous format, such as interviews and viewers' letters, but also featured some new humorous elements, such as the presenters regularly destroying a
caravan during the early series. After the first series, Dawe was replaced by
James May. Having previously been a presenter on
Channel 4's motoring programme
Driven and the 1999 series of
Top Gear, May initially declined to be a part of the new format, until its growing popularity later changed his mind. At the beginning of the third series, McCarthy was replaced as the Stig by
Ben Collins for contractual reasons. The Stig's outfit was changed from a black outfit to a white one. As the programme progressed, the format slowly began to transform, with a focus towards creating a unique presentation style for the programme, which included the addition of new segments, a more unusual approach to reviewing cars, road trips, and more specialised films involving races – either between cars or between a car and another form of transport – and completing a variety of challenges, mostly with cheap, second-hand cars.
2006–2014: Changes and growing popularity ,
James May and
Jeremy Clarkson in 2008 In early 2006, the BBC made plans to move the programme's film site from
Dunsfold to
Enstone, Oxfordshire, in preparation for its
eighth series. The move was later cancelled, after
West Oxfordshire District Council strongly objected to the planned move, on the basis of noise and pollution concerns. As a result, the broadcaster ordered that filming continued at Dunsfold during May of that year, despite having no permit to do so, with the eighth series unveiling a revamped studio set. In addition, the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment was modified with new rules along with a new car, while Hammond included one of his dogs for the series throughout its studio segments, along with a number of films made for this series and the next. On 20 September, during production for the ninth series, Hammond was seriously injured while driving a
Vampire turbojet drag racing car at up to , as part of a planned feature, leading the BBC to postpone the broadcast of
Best of Top Gear until a later date, and delaying production on the series until the presenter had recovered. Both the BBC and the
Health and Safety Executive carried out inquiries into the accident, with filming later resuming on 5 October. The opening episode of the ninth series, aired on 28 January 2007, included footage of Hammond's crash; while it was not repeated like other episodes in the programme, it attracted higher ratings than the finale of
Celebrity Big Brother, providing one of the highest ratings for BBC Two for a decade, alongside the series finale, which attracted around 8 million viewers. Later that summer, on 25 July, the BBC aired a special edition episode entitled
Top Gear: Polar Special. It was one of the first episodes of the programme to be shown in
high definition, and the third special to be produced, focusing on a race to the
North Magnetic Pole, at its recorded location in 1996, between a "polar modified"
Toyota Hilux and a dog sled. Considerable planning and co-ordination for the filming of the episode was conducted by both
Top Gears production team and
Toyota, with both Clarkson and May, driving the Hilux, being the first people to reach the recorded location of the North Magnetic Pole by car. With popularity for the show rising, the waiting list to get a ticket for a recording became extensive – a person seeking a ticket, found that they would be required to wait for 21 years before securing a place. On 17 June 2008, Hammond and May said that the eleventh series would feature a new "host" in the line-up, who was later revealed on the programme as "Top Gear Stunt Man", an individual who made few, occasional appearances on the programme. From the twelfth series, feature-length specials were created for the show, each visiting a different part of the world for a road trip using second-hand cars, with some produced to be aired as a Christmas special. Despite growing popularity, Wilman revealed that future programmes would have less time devoted to big challenges, stating: "We've looked back at the last two or three runs and noticed that a programme can get swallowed up by one monster film – a bit like one of those
Yes albums from the 1970s where side one is just one track – so we're trying to calm down the prog-rock side. We'll inevitably still have big films, because it's the only way you can enjoy the three of them cocking about together, but they'll be shorter overall, and alongside we'll be inserting two- or three-minute punk songs.",
Hammond and
Clarkson at a
Top Gear Live show in 2014The success of the programme soon led to a live-version format being created called
Top Gear Live; produced by a former producer of the programme, Rowland French, the touring show aimed to attempt to "bring the TV show format to life... featuring breath-taking stunts, amazing special effects and blockbusting driving sequences featuring some of the world's best precision drivers". The Live tour began on 30 October 2008 in Earls Court, London, moving on to
Birmingham in November before being performed in at least 15 other countries. As the 14th series was being broadcast in late 2009, the programme began to attract criticism from some viewers, over its predictability through the over-reliance on stunts and forced humour at the expense of serious content. On 13 December 2009, controller of BBC Two
Janice Hadlow appeared on the BBC's
Points of View to reject such comments, purely on the evidence of
Top Gears ratings and audience appreciation figures. On 20 December, Wilman admitted that the three presenters were now "playing to their TV cartoon characters a bit too much". His statement included referring to "this incarnation of
Top Gear" being close to its end, and that the production team would be working towards keeping its "dignity still intact", while experimenting with new ideas for the programme. Nevertheless, an episode of the long-running US news programme
60 Minutes featuring Clarkson, Hammond, and May, attracted 16 million viewers in October 2010.
2014–2015: Clarkson, Hammond and May's departure Towards the end of 2014, the BBC became concerned over Clarkson's behaviour on the programme, including its production. Their concerns were raised by two incidents that year. The first involved an un-aired take from the 19th series emerging on national news media, featuring the presenter attempting to choose between two cars using the traditional rhyme "
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" but allegedly failing to censor the original version's use of the word
nigger. The second involved an investigation into racism complaints by the regulator
Ofcom, in regards to the show's "Burma Special", which led to the programme being found in breach of broadcasting rules. The presenters had been involved in constructing a bridge, when Clarkson, seeing an Asian man crossing it, remarked that the bridge "had a
slope on it". As a result, the broadcaster issued a "final warning" against Clarkson. The programme then suffered another incident, when production of its
next special in Argentina was dogged by major issues that placed the team at serious risk of harm, as one of the car
number plates had read "H982 FKL" in an alleged reference to the
Falklands War of 1982. The controversial incident it created was covered by international news media, and the special was later aired as part of the BBC's Christmas schedule for 2014, though with amendments to its ending and the inclusion of an introduction for it. On 10 March 2015, production of the 22nd series of the programme was abruptly suspended by the BBC. The broadcaster's actions were the result of them suspending Clarkson in order to investigate allegations made against him, over verbal and physical abuse he had committed against one of the show's producers, Oisin Tymon. On 25 March, Clarkson's contract with the BBC was terminated, with
Director-General of the BBC Tony Hall announcing that the remaining episodes future were uncertain until the broadcaster could determine how to air them out and complete the 22nd series. Clarkson's forced departure had an impact on the programme, beginning with that year's
Top Gear Live – as a result of the BBC's decision, the tour's name was changed to "Clarkson, Hammond and May Live" and announced on 1 April 2015. Wilman resigned from the programme, along with May and Hammond, having stated that they would not continue working on
Top Gear without Clarkson. Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman subsequently signed a deal with
Amazon to produce a new motoring programme,
The Grand Tour, which debuted in 2016.
2016–2019: Revolving door of presenters Following the departure of Clarkson, and the subsequent departure of May, Hammond and Wilman, the BBC began searching for their replacements. On 16 June 2015,
Chris Evans was confirmed as one of the new hosts, On an edition of his BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, a week later, Evans revealed that both men would also be joined by
Eddie Jordan, motoring journalist
Chris Harris, German motor racing driver
Sabine Schmitz, and motoring journalist
Rory Reid. Filming for the twenty-third series soon began in early 2016. While the show still retained the use of the show's presentation style and its test driver The Stig, the format received a number of changes – a small number of segments were dropped, the studio received a revamp to its layout, the celebrity segment was redesigned to feature a rallycross-styled challenge, while Evans and LeBlanc fronted the show with the other co-presenters appearing "when required". On 27 April 2016, BBC Three announced that a spin-off programme to
Top Gear had been commissioned, entitled
Extra Gear. Designed to be aired after each episode of the new series was aired, its format focused on providing exclusive new content online – hosted by both Reid and Harris, the spin-off would consist of new footage, interviews, specially recorded films and behind-the-scenes access to the main programme. A combination of delays with production and conflicts with scheduling led to the premiere date of the 23rd series being pushed back to 29 May 2016. In addition, the new series aired with only six of the ten episodes that it promised to show. The new look of the show received mixed feedback from critics and viewers – although praise was given for the inclusion of LeBlanc, Harris and Reid, the new format was panned for its sluggish pace, the lack of humour in the studio segments, and the length of time spent on the revamped celebrity segment, "Star in a Rally-Cross Car". On 4 July, following the series finale, Evans announced his resignation from
Top Gear. The BBC announced on 26 September that, among the remaining five presenters, LeBlanc would be joined by Harris and Reid to become the main hosts for the next series. To make amends for its dismal performance,
Top Gear underwent a more thorough revamp, which included redesigning the show's studio and opening titles. The show's format was refocused on elements developed in early series, a deeper work on chemistry between the presenters, while also revising the celebrity segment – as the arrangement for the 23rd series had proven to be a failure, the segment returned to its original format.
2019–2023: Further reshuffle, Flintoff's accident and hiatus On 31 May 2018, LeBlanc announced he would be leaving the show after the twenty-sixth series in 2019.
Andrew Flintoff and
Paddy McGuinness were announced on 22 October 2018 to be replacing LeBlanc and joining Harris for the twenty-seventh series. As a part of the reshuffle Rory Reid was announced to be stepping down as a main host to present
Extra Gear and make occasional appearances on the main show; however,
Extra Gear was not renewed for any further series and so Reid moved to ITV4 to present
Speed Freaks. The new presenting line-up received a positive reception compared to the mixed reviews of the previous few series. During the broadcast of the
twenty-eighth series in early 2020, it was announced that, from the
twenty-ninth series, the show would move channels to
BBC One following the positive reception of the new presenting lineup. The twenty-ninth series itself, which was broadcast in late 2020, also saw some changes as a result of filming and broadcast during the
COVID-19 pandemic, including the show moving out of the studio and onto the runway, in a 'drive-in festival' style, to enable the audience members to remain physically distanced, and the dropping of the
Star in a ... Car segment to maintain social distancing. Further changes were made to the
thirtieth series, broadcast in early 2021, due to
restrictions as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic: studio segments were recorded during a two-night shoot outside
Television Centre, London, instead of the previous location at
Dunsfold Aerodrome, with no full audience, and all of the films in the series were recorded in the UK. The new outdoor studio at Television Centre was retained for the
thirty-first series, which was broadcast later that year. The revamped show fronted by the new trio helped
Top Gear increase viewership to numbers not seen since the departure of Clarkson, Hammond and May. The twenty-seventh series has also been one of the most popular shows for British 16 to 34 year olds. On 4 August 2021, it was announced that production of the show would transfer to BBC Studios Bristol for the thirty-third series; however, Dunsfold Aerodrome would still be used for filming. On 13 December 2022, whilst filming at Dunsfold Park Aerodome for the planned 34th series, Flintoff was involved in a second accident and had to be airlifted to hospital. In January 2023
The Mirror reported Flintoff chose to put his TV career on hold to allow himself time to recover from the crash. In March 2023 the BBC announced that series 34 production had been suspended to enable a thorough health and safety investigation into the accident. In November 2023, the BBC announced that
Top Gear would not return on TV for the "foreseeable future" following Flintoff's accident, though the statement left open the possibility of the show resuming production in the future. == Format ==