History TopGearUK / TropesRToZ

* SilentCredits: "The Big Send Off Special" (Series 22, Episode 8) ends this way; a fitting send-off had it not been for the continuity announcement (for the UK première of ''[[Series/AmericanOdyssey Odyssey]]'') during it.

** Played straight with Hammond's Dino... er...Ferrari that he bought for the "Italian Supercars Cheaper Than A Two Year Old Ford Mondeo" challenge, as after he lovingly restored it, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8En7Qooyx0 it was damaged]] on the horrible BBC game show ''Petrolheads''. He didn't react well. It's a good job this was before he "met" Oliver. If they had used his Opel for that, he probably would have become violent.

** 0LIV3R

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs:
** The InUniverse reaction to Clarkson's "normal road test" of the Renault Twingo 133.
--->'''Hammond:''' What was that? An acid trip?... Seriously, how much Night Nurse[[note]]an over-the-counter cold remedy that helps you sleep. Clarkson mentions it early on in the "review".[[/note]] did you take before you did that film?
** The anti-drunk driving PSA Bacardi asked them to show during [[spoiler:Schumacher]]'s interview. As Jeremy put it:
--->'''Clarkson:''' Forgive me on this, forgive me. I have quite literally ''no'' idea what that's all about.
** Invoked by Jeremy when James May arrives in his "Salfa Rameoab" in the limo challenge.
--->'''Clarkson:''' What kind of paint thinner were you sniffing when you thought of this?
*** Invoked again by Hammond upon seeing Jeremy's ''Film/TheGreatEscape''-style trolley system to reach the rear seats.
---->'''Hammond:''' I though you [James] had sniffed thinners making that.

* SeriousBusiness: It is more or less established that, if necessary, the BBC will fend off any criticisms against any part of Top Gear, including Jeremy's category of AcceptableTargets, and bring their guns to bear against any party that threatens the integrity of the show. And with good reason, since Top Gear is one of their most successful television shows ever. The BBC actually ''sued a book publisher'' to try to stop them from publishing a book revealing The Stig's identity. They failed[[note]]And the Stig (at the time, Ben Collins) was subsequently ''fired''. It's in his contract that he can't reveal his identity[[/note]]. It took Clarkson punching a co-worker for the BBC to finally fire him.

--->'''Hammond:''' You've only [[Film/TheItalianJob blown the bloody door off!]]

--->'''Hammond:''' You've only [[TheItalianJob blown the bloody door off!]]

* StupidStatementDanceMix: Jeremy's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY9u0LxIWJk got one]].

* [[SurprisinglyGoodEnglish Surprisingly Good Vietnamese]]: In the Vietnam special, Clarkson actually learned enough Vietnamese to understand the oral driver's exam, and answer the question directed at him; the legal age required to get a full motorcycle licence (the answer being 18). Predictably, Hammond and May were shocked.
-->'''Clarkson:''' Did you not bother learning Vietnamese before you came here?\\
'''Hammond:''' Well, no!\\
'''Clarkson:''' You're ''screwed'', then.

--->'''Clarkson:''' James, are you presenting ''Top Gear'' or are you writing a letter to the [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers ''Daily Telegraph'']]?

** In a far more personal and literal ''Take That!'', Jeremy Clarkson once took a more direct route to redress from a newspaper that had defamed him. Eschewing a long and costly libel action, Clarkson walked up to the newspaper editor as he and his fellow-journalist mistress sat down to dinner in a swanky London hotel. Noting that the editor was doing for real what his newspaper had falsely accused Clarkson of doing - neglecting his wife in favour of a mistress - Jeremy addressed the double standard involved by punching the hapless hack out cold, laying him in a heap several feet away from his chair. This appears to have done nobody's career any harm, as the punchee [[TheMeanBrit Piers Morgan]] is now a TV presenter in his own right, and his bit on the side has advanced up the pecking order of the Guardian.... but Clarkson is right in that while ''his'' alleged affair became front-page news, newspapers become strangely protective and close-lipped when it involves one, or in this case two, of their own.

** Jeremy makes a bicycle safety video in which a bomb disposal tech (with a bicycle in the background) must diffuse a bomb and is repeatedly instructed by MissionControl to cut the green wire. He cuts the red wire instead, detonating the bomb.

** In the 80's hot hatch challenge, when Clarkson and Hammond were trying to catch May, they first resorted to a military-spec JCB, then a mine-clearing machine similar to the one used in the demolition-off, [[SerialEscalation then finally]] [[UpToEleven an actual tank]].

** In a far more personal and literal ''Take That!'', Jeremy Clarkson once took a more direct route to redress from a newspaper that had defamed him. Eschewing a long and costly libel action, Clarkson walked up to the newspaper editor as he and his fellow-journalist mistress sat down to dinner in a swanky London hotel. Noting that the editor was doing for real what his newspaper had falsely accused Clarkson of doing - neglecting his wife in favour of a mistress - Jeremy addressed the double standard involved by punching the hapless hack out cold, laying him in a heap several feet away from his chair. This appears to have done nobody's career any harm, as the punchee [[TheMeanBrit Piers Morgan]] is now a TV presenter in his own right, and his bit on the side has advanced up the pecking order of the Guardian.... but Clarkson is right in that while ''his'' alleged affair became front-page news, newspapers become strangely protective and close-lipped when it involves one, or in this case two, of their own.[[note]] Jeremy's spectacular exit from ''Top Gear'' did not do him any favours; UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers, knowing he had once punched out a journalist and wanting vengeance on general principles, even if it ''was'' Piers Moron, went to town on him and made ''much'' more of the story than it might otherwise have merited. Moron's by now ex-mistress Marina Hyde penned a long and scathing ad hominem attack on Clarkson in ''The Guardian'', practically making him out to be the worst human being since Pol Pot, without once mentioning she was there the night he roundly twatted Morgan and that her personal feelings might be colouring her writing and calling the integrity of the article into question. Readers who pointed this out when her article appeared on the Guardian website had their comments deleted, and it is possible personal warnings were sent to them concerning ''their'' conduct on "Comment Is Free".[[/note]]

** [[http://live.topgear.com/ Top Gear Live World Tour in 2009]] had promo pictures of the three presenters plus The Stig [[http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/top-gear-live-launch-2009-09-28 sitting around a map of the world]] - the kind that shows troop movements. [[CatchPhrase I think you can see where this is going.]]

** The Vietnam special can be seen as almost one long TakeThat against the Americans for the Vietnam War, highlighting that they spent years wrecking up a country that is both spectacularly beautiful and populated by people who are simply brilliant.

*** Hammond's hatred for the band Music/{{Genesis}}. One recurring gag in the specials is Jeremy playing the song "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" loudly to annoy Hammond. It came to a head when guitarist/bassist Music/MikeRutherford was invited to test the Vauxhall Astra Tech Line; Hammond chose to "look for something on the floor" in order to hide from Rutherford.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Said in-universe by the producers and the Foreign Office after the trio crossed from relatively-peaceful Iraqi Kurdistan into the less peaceful South Turkey during the Middle East special (although the alternative, admittedly, was driving through the less-peaceful-than-either Mosul).
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=LLNouGUyHBTr0sjm1ohFwBlA&feature=player_detailpage&v=xe__RnelG14#t=77s Clarkson demonstrating]] a, er, potent mini-cab scented perfume... haphazardly:
--->[[spoiler:'''Clarkson:''' '''''MY EYES!''''']]\\
[[spoiler:'''Hammond:''' You cretin!]]
** During '''"The Perfect Road Trip"''' Hammond/Clarkson get a little carried away driving their Porsche 911/Aston Martin Vanquish respectively and end up leaving the more sensible speed-limit following production team behind. When they catch up, the two presenters are talking to several police over their speeding (Clarkson's newspaper column showed they were doing 87mph in a 56mph zone). The response? They had all the physical cash on them removed as well as their driving licences THEN banned from driving in France for 3 months, cutting the intended end race of the show short. What's more, Clarkson has been fined for speeding in France before on the show.
** During the road trip through the American South, the producers challenge the trio to paint up their cars with phrases promoting gay marriage and disparaging pickups and then drive into a small Alabama town. Apparently, nobody told them that in those parts of the US, things like that CAN get you killed, and the trio end up running for their lives.

* TestYourStrengthGame: In Series 20, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond held an invitational 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' segment for the Vauxhall Astra, with a few features including an arcade punching machine. Boxer David Haye ended up going past 700, while Clarkson [[AwesomeButImpractical almost totalled himself]] [[HarsherInHindsight attempting to punch with style]].

* TestYourStrengthGame: In Series 20, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond held an invitational 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' segment for the Vauxhall Astra, with a few features including an arcade punching machine. Boxer David Haye ended up going past 700, while Clarkson [[AwesomeButImpractical almost totalled himself[[ [[HarsherInHindsight attempting to punch with style]].

* TestYourStrengthGame: In Series 20, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond held an invitational 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' segment for the Vauxhall Astra, with a few features including an arcade punching machine. Boxer David Haye ended up going past 700, while Clarkson [[AwesomeButImpractical almost totaled himself attempting to punch with style]].

* SkunkStripe: May has the white-hair-at-the-temples variety.

* SpotOfTea: Often, and sometimes under the most outrageous circumstances (i.e. while floating in the Bay of Dover after one's amphibious vehicle has capsized.)
-->'''May:''' Oops, sorry mate, the cup sank.

** In the overseas episodes. The Vietnam special made particularly heavy use of this in the service of the feature's main objective: to show the country as more than "just that place where a war happened." The Polar Special also featured some truly stunning cinematography.
** Subverted in the Bolivia Special, which started with some very nice aerial shots, that Clarkson then admitted were from another show because the helicopter they hired had crashed. The presenters were then shown arriving at their start location in boat.

** May's first appearance on the revived ''Top Gear''

** Clarkson's contribution to his and May's Volkswagen Scirocco ad was to put the attractive actress in a bikini. When told it was going to be a funeral scene, he clarified: "Black bikini."

--->"[[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Run away! Run way!]]"

* SpringtimeForHitler: Jeremy's efforts in the Blackpool economy race. Despite choosing a vehicle with fuel range well short of what was needed to reach the finish, and further, intentionally ignoring the economy part of the race for about half the length of it, he not only [[BeyondTheImpossible somehow made it to Blackpool]], but on time as well, and only just behind Richard for first place.

** In one episode they had to get their cheap Alfa Romeos into a Concours d'Elegance competition. Hammond's Alfa died on the way there and since cars were only allowed to enter if they did so under their own power that was a bit of a problem. They snuck in under the eyes of the marshalls by driving their cars bumper to bumper, May towing Hammond's Alfa with the tow rope hidden under Clarkson's car. Hammond at least tried to come up with an excuse but Clarkson just couldn't be bothered...

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* YouMakeMeSic: After receiving a threatening letter from the Morris Marina Owners' Club calling for the presenters to be hanged, drawn and quartered ("or is that to good for them?"), Clarkson points out the word should be spelled "too."