History Trivia / TopGearUK

* ThePeteBest: Jason Dawe, who was a presenter on Top Gear for one season and then was replaced by James May.
* PromotedFanboy: Richard Hammond was a diehard fan of ''Top Gear'', a fan of ''Jeremy Clarkson'' even, back when he was still on satellite Television. How diehard? Well, he read every single ''Top Gear'' magazine, watched ''Top Gear'' every week, and he envied everybody working for ''Top Gear''. Needless to say, he JumpedAtTheCall when the current format of ''Top Gear'' started auditioning for presenters, although the last thing he expected was to actually be chosen for the job. Well, look where he is now.

* BannedInChina: Indirectly. For their troubles of destroying a Malaysian car called the ''Perodua Kancil'', the local satellite Pay TV provider that was carrying BBC Entertainment at the time [[DisproportionateRetribution dropped the entire channel]], replacing it with ''ITV Granada''. While the provider outright denied that the episode had to do with the channel being dropped (they simply claimed that the channel has nothing new to offer, which angered fans of other shows on the channel, particularly [[Series/DoctorWho Whovians]]) Many Malaysians suspect a full-on governmental conspiracy to ban the show because the programme had badmouthed a local car. However that didn’t stop a local terrestrial station to pick up the show (although it was put on their FridayNightDeathSlot and the offending episode removed from their airing) and local versions of the Top Gear magazine continued to be printed (albeit now heavily censored). Eventually the channel reappeared on a different provider three years later, but only after Top Gear had moved to the ''BBC Knowledge'' sister channel and Perodua had stopped producing Kancils anyway.

In 2009, the [=MoD=] revealed that since 2004, the Armed Forces were involved in filming for the equivalent of 141 days and civilian officials spent 48 days working on items for the programme. Although there was a bit of snarkery over this, the [=MoD=] insists that it was an excellent way to boost support for the Army. Clarkson notably supports the troops, and he is a patron of [[http://helpforheroes.co.uk Help For Heroes]]

** One notable case is the Vauxhall Vectra (Opel in Europe). The Vectra was trashed roundly by Clarkson and Vauxhall/Opel actually blamed him for their poor sales. BTW, for American car fans, the Vectra's American mutation is the Saturn Aura (which was fairly well-received). '''Clarkson (in a 90s article)''': "There are only three objective reasons for not buying any particular car. It is unreliable; it is hideously expensive; it is a Vauxhall Vectra."

** Teslas. When they first came out, they actively downplayed anything their review model did well out of sheer lack of faith in the technology. Nowadays, they all consider them fantastic cars and recommend the technology as worth watching and investing in. More noticeable on The Grand Tour, for obvious reasons.

** Series 9 Episode 1, the first episode following Richard Hammond's near death in the Vampire Dragster crash and featuring a detailed discussion about the accident, was only aired once in the UK and is not available through any other means like Amazon. The episode was aired a few times on BBC America in the United States, but eventually disappeared from rerun rotation there too.

* ExecutiveMeddling: One of Clarkson's pet peeves, often lampshaded with snarly references to Health & Safety.

* FanNickname:
** The presenters' {{In Series Nickname}}s (Jezza, Hamster, and Captain Slow) have been taken up by the fanbase. The presenters collectively are sometimes called the Top Gear Three, or [=TG3=] for short.
** Also "White Stig," distinguished from the former "Black Stig" by the white color of his racing suit.
** Website/NicoNicoDouga users tend to tag videos featuring May with "J｀・ω・)".

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** In a rather harsh example of this trope, on at least two occasions the presenters have been through a peaceful country on one of their adventures mere months before it exploded into violence - first Syria and then Ukraine.
** In earlier series, the presenters would casually use "gay" as an insult toward one another and cars they didn't like. This was put to an end as people became more aware of homophobia and and how offensive such language was.

* You'd be very surprised to see that the series before 2002 were your bog-standard car review show (in fact, this original version inspired a slew of motoring shows throughout continental Europe). While it isn't quite devoid of humour (especially in segments done by Clarkson, who'd constantly add [[DeadpanSnarker witty remarks]] to his reviews), the rule was factuality-first, jokes second.

** Even the early seasons of the post-2002 show had a markedly different tone to what it would evolve into after a few years. There were no cheap car challenges, much more emphasis on novelty/stunt challenges, much less emphasis on banter and more of a pretence maintained of being a semi-serious show. Not to mention that the first series had Jason Dawe as the third presenter instead of James May.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: You'd be very surprised to see that the series before 2002 were your bog-standard car review show (in fact, this original version inspired a slew of motoring shows throughout continental Europe). While it isn't quite devoid of humor (especially in segments done by Clarkson, who'd constantly add [[DeadpanSnarker witty remarks]] to his reviews), the rule was factuality-first, jokes second.

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: In 2007, the show received criticism for broadcasting a feature in which they demonstrated the importance of taking care on level crossings by crashing a locomotive into a car. It so happened that this was broadcast shortly after a train crash involving a car on a level crossing had made the news. Some thought they, with rail safety high in the public consciousness as a result, this was an ideal time to broadcast the feature. Others thought it would have caused offence to ''someone'' at any time.[[note]]At that point the segment had been postponed more than once due to, you guessed it, level crossing accidents. The producers decided there was never going to ''be'' a proper time to air it.[[/note]] The fact that Clarkson (who presented that segment) was clearly playing it for laughs probably didn’t help, mind you.

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: The show received criticism for broadcasting a feature in which they demonstrated the importance of taking care on level crossings by crashing a locomotive into a car, shortly after a train crash had made the news. Some thought it was an ideal time to broadcast it with rail safety high in the public consciousness. Others thought it would have caused offence to ''someone'' at any time.[[note]]At that point the segment had been postponed more than once due to, you guessed it, level crossing accidents. The producers decided there was never going to ''be'' a proper time to air it.[[/note]] The fact that Clarkson, who presented that segment, was clearly playing it for laughs probably didn’t help, mind you.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: You'd be very surprised to see that the series before 2002 were your bog-standard car review show (in fact, this original version inspired a slew of motoring shows theoughout continental Europe). While it isn't quite devoid of humor (especially in segments done by Clarkson, who'd constantly add [[DeadpanSnarker witty remarks]] to his reviews), the rule was factuality-first, jokes second.

** The presenters spent an entire series mocking the forthcoming Dacia Sandero before it had even been finished. By the start of the next series, Renault had cancelled the UK release; of course, this was probably for "unrelated reasons". And who was complaining three years later in Romania that the Sandero was not sold in the UK? I'll give you three guesses but you'll need only one, if you read the CargoShip entry above. Poor guy wanted to take it home with him.

** Teslas. When they first came out, they actively downplayed anything their review model did well out of shear lack of faith in the technology. Nowadays, they all consider them fantastic cars and recommend the technology as worth watching and investing in. More noticeable on The Grand Tour, for obvious reasons.

* DorkAge: Season 23 in 2016, no doubt. From the atrocious changes to segments that weren't broken (like for example the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" becoming rally-cross themed and having a much longer interview - a.k.a. the part that always waa seen as the weakest of every show), over badly timed humor to an abrasive and very much unlikeable Chris Evans not being suited for the role of main host, the series failed spectacularly, bringing barely a third of the viewers the Clarkson era had by its' end.

* WriterRevolt: After his "fracas" with a producer, Clarkson returned to work fully believing that everyone could simply forget about the incident and move on. The entire staff, however, apparently refused to let bygones be bygones and demanded that Clarkson report himself to the BBC for review.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In a rather harsh example of this trope, on at least two occasions the presenters have been through a peaceful country on one of their adventures mere months before it exploded into violence - first Syria and then Ukraine.

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: The show received criticism for broadcasting a feature in which they demonstrated the importance of taking care on level crossings by crashing a locomotive into a car, shortly after a train crash had made the news. Some thought it was an ideal time to broadcast it with rail safety high in the public consciousness. Others thought it would have caused offence to ''someone'' at any time.[[note]]At that point the segment had been postponed more than once due to, you guessed it, level crossing accidents. The producers decided there was never going to ''be'' a proper time to air it.[[/note]]

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: The show received criticism for broadcasting a feature in which they demonstrated the importance of taking care on level crossings by crashing a locomotive into a car, shortly after a train crash had made the news. Some thought it was an ideal time to broadcast it with rail safety high in the public consciousness. Others thought it would have caused offense to ''someone'' at any time.[[note]]At that point the segment had been postponed more than once due to, you guessed it, level crossing accidents. The producers decided there was never going to ''be'' a proper time to air it.[[/note]]

* BannedInChina: Indirectly. For their troubles of destroying a Malaysian car called the ''Perodua Kancil'', the local satellite Pay TV provider that was carrying BBC Entertainment at the time [[DisproportionateRetribution dropped the entire channel]], replacing it with ''ITV Granada''. While the provider outright denied that the episode had to do with the channel being dropped (they simply claimed that the channel has nothing new to offer, which angered fans of other shows on the channel, particularly [[Series/DoctorWho Whovians]]) Many Malaysians suspect a full-on governmental conspiracy to ban the show because the program had badmouthed a local car. However that didn’t stop a local terrestrial station to pick up the show (although it was put on their FridayNightDeathSlot and the offending episode removed from their airing) and local versions of the Top Gear magazine continued to be printed (albeit now heavily censored). Eventually the channel reappeared on a different provider three years later, but only after Top Gear had moved to the ''BBC Knowledge'' sister channel and Perodua had stopped producing Kancils anyway.

** Rather clumsily, to make room for ad breaks, on Dave (a UK channel that shows reruns of many BBC programs) -- ironic, as sitcoms and panel games are generally unedited, taking up an awkward 40-minute place in the schedules. UKTV, Dave's parent company, often also comes under criticism for editing documentaries on their other channels.

** Website/NicoNicoDouga users tend to tag videos featuring [[{{Adorkable}} May]] with "J｀・ω・)".

** On the other hand, when the team demonstrated the durability of the Toyota Hilux pickup truck, Toyota released a new model, named in honour of the achievement, called The Invincible. In fact, there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVqQw1OCMXg a television commercial]] in the U.S. for the American equivalent of the Hilux, the Toyota Tacoma, which features footage from that episode.[[note]]The Hilux was discontinued entirely in North America and Japan in 1995 (the name was retired there in 1976). It was replaced by the similar, but unrelated, Tacoma.[[/note]] They don't mention that it's ''Top Gear'', only that the stunt was done by "some automotive experts in Europe" (grossly underestimating ''Top Gear'''s American fanbase and its ability to recognize the scene).

* TooSoon:
** The show received criticism for broadcasting a feature in which they demonstrated the importance of taking care on level crossings by crashing a locomotive into a car, shortly after a train crash had made the news. Some thought it was an ideal time to broadcast it with rail safety high in the public consciousness. Others thought it would have caused offense to ''someone'' at any time.[[note]]At that point the segment had been postponed more than once due to, you guessed it, level crossing accidents. The producers decided there was never going to ''be'' a proper time to air it.[[/note]]
** This trope was [[TakeThatCritics intentionally flaunted]] when Richard Hammond returned to the show after his near-fatal high-speed crash. Jeremy Clarkson even made a point of saying "speed kills" and asked Hammond if he was "now a mental".
** Clarkson drew massive criticism for his "Change gear, change gear, change gear, murder a prostitute" joke in the Lorry Driving Challenge, having made it mere weeks after a lorry driver was arrested and charged in connection with a string of prostitute murders. It's well known that Clarkson is a huge fan of TooSoon jokes and uses them a lot on purpose just to wind the press up, but the reaction continued to be that he went too far with this one.

* DuelingShows: With ''Fifth Gear'', which is much less popular than ''Top Gear'' (and is based on the original, more straightforward-review format) but is often name-dropped because its presenters include several of Clarkson's old colleagues and rivals from the original ''Top Gear''. Disasters such as the Cool Wall burning down are often ascribed to Fifth Gear's nefarious schemes. Then again, most of the jabs at ''Fifth Gear'' are (presumably) in good humor as the show's host Tiff Needell has continued to work with Jeremy and co. on occasion.

* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Clarkson was always a magnet for controversy and had to repeatedly apologize for things he said on air. The last straw was when he verbally and physically abused a producer because hot food was not available at a hotel[[note]]the presenters and crew had arrived at the hotel so late that the chef had gone home for the night[[/note]]. The BBC announced that it wasn't going to renew Clarkson's contract and Hammond and May announced that they would be leaving in solidarity.

* BannedEpisode: the episode where the crew destroys a Perodua Kancil can never air in Malaysia ever again.