Season 19
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are back as the world's most popular car programme returns for a brand new season.
In the first episode, Jeremy attempts to build car that's even smaller than the famous Peel P50 and then tests it out on the streets of London before putting his concept to the ultimate test of credibility in the fearsome Dragons' Den.
Meanwhile, James is testing the latest Bentley Continental GT Speed by taking it on a rally stage and Richard is at the test track to unleash the sensational new Pagani Huayra hypercar before handing it over to The Stig for the lap of a lifetime.
As if that wasn't enough, Homeland star Damian Lewis is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
In Episode 2, the presenters take an epic road trip across the western side of the United States in three front-engined supercars. With Jeremy Clarkson in a Lexus LFA, Richard Hammond driving the new Dodge Viper and James May choosing the latest Aston Martin Vanquish a glorious soundtrack is guaranteed and so is a furious debate about which is best as the trio head from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and on to Palm Springs.
Along the way, the three presenters take in racing circuits, airbourne attacks and a race against the police before making a break for the Mexican border with a terrifying penalty for the last car to make it. Mick Fleetwood is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.
Format
The show often features the following segments, amongst others:
Races
The show has featured a number of races where Jeremy Clarkson races a car against other forms of transport, usually involving Richard Hammond and James May taking the same journey by any combinations of plane, train, ferry or bus.
Reviews
Top Gear normally reviews one new car, or group of cars, each week. It's became hugely influential with motor manufacturers, since a critical word from the Top Gear team could have a severely negative effect on sales.
The Top Gear reports are not based on facts or figures, but the opinions of the presenters. Group tests normally involve the three presenters debating the merits and weaknesses of each car.
Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car
In each programme, a celebrity is interviewed by Jeremy Clarkson, and focuses usually on car-related topics and often on cars owned by the celebs themselves.
The guest is whisked off to the Top Gear race track where he/she tries to get the fastest lap time in a Chevrolet.
The fastest lap time is held by The Stig, and guests who have attempted to beat his time have included Simon Cowell, Jamie Oliver and Sanjeev Bhaskar.
Power Laps
In the Power Laps segment, The Stig completes a lap around the Top Gear test track to determine the performance of various cars. The car tested is usually the car that's been reviewed in that episode, but occasionally it can be a car from a previous episode.
The Cool Wall
The Cool Wall is a board where Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond decide which cars are cool, and which aren't, and has nothing to do with how good or bad a car is. The categories are Sub Zero, Cool, Uncool and Seriously Uncool.
Initially, part of that "coolness" factor rested on the extent to which the presenters believed each car would impress English actress Kristin Scott Thomas.
BBC newsreader Fiona Bruce replaced Kristin as their notional judge, after Kristin stated in an interview that she owned a Honda, which was deemed to be "Uncool".