Lobsang writes:
> I deliberately used ‘Taking the Mickey’ Because I thought it was the understood
> US alternative to ‘Taking the Piss’.
Actually, both phrases are considerably more common in the U.K. than in the U.S. A lot of Americans understand both of them, but they don’t tend to use them. I would just say, “making fun of.”
You really don’t wanna miss the Lotus Exige vs. Apache helicopter shootout, in which Clarkson on a test track attempts to outrace and outdodge the gunship circling overhead trying to get a radar firing lock on him, all to the tune of “Ace Of Spades”.
And the Unkillable Toyota is strangely moving.
Have you seen his shows about old toys he grew up with? They’re great.
With the original question already answered, I just wanted to chime in and say, “I love this show!” I have been telling everybody I know, to watch it since it is more than just a car show, it’s entertaining. I’ve seen most of the ones this past year on BBC-America, except for the amphibious car. My favorite has to be the trip across the Southern US in $1000 cars.
Does anybody know when BBC-America will start playing the more recent Top Gear episodes? What is the show’s schedule in the UK (in other words what month do/did the new shows start)?
They drove to the magnetic north pole!
“Jesus comes with a map!”
“But it’s a map of Galilee!”
TG does about 8-10 episodes for the spring and fall each. I’d expect them back in a few months here. According to my “arrived files” (cough), the last “season” ended on Dec 23.
The next series will begin at the end of February, the 24th or thereabouts.
The name of the show has been around for that long. The original format was as a serious motoring programme, and that got culled in the end. And the BBC sold all the rights to it, with the exception of the name, to Channel 5 who now produce it as the dismal Fifth Gear. The current programme was an entirely new creation, several years later.
This thread reminds me, James May wrote for another car mag’ a while back, he was asked to leave when (allegedly) someone found out he was using the first word in each line of a column to spell out silly messages.
Rights to what?
Lotus Exige vs. Apache helicopter. This is the episode that made me realise that something very special had happened to Top Gear.
Good question, they got two of the presenters, but what else? 
The rights to the format - but it appears I’ve got that a bit wrong, and the producer simply moved across to Five after the BBC cancelled the show. At least according to Wikipedia. Top Gear (1977 TV series) - Wikipedia
Not just allegedly.
I wouldn’t have given James May much credence on his first appearance on the show, but I’d rather see Hammond go than him (which I think is to happen soon.)
Oh cock!
If you can find it, there’s a “Top Gear: Challenges” dvd which contains some of their best “challenges”, one being the reliant robin-space shuttle segment.
Since my husband discovered Top Gear, he regularly loans (by force!) his Top Gear dvds to friends. And he’s also developed a crush on Jeremy Clarkson too, which is quite sad 
I think it is arguably the best TV show of all time. I watch it religiously yet it is about a subject in which i have no interest. I have never been a performance car buff or even interested in cars at all. When I buy a new one it is about as exciting as buying shoes.
However they have managed to put together the most entertaining team imaginable. Their personalities make a perfect mix and the production crew are simply superb. The visuals, the editing, the scripts are all perfect. I love watching each episode’s set piece, with the 3 competing, to see how the writers and producers wring every good gag out of the material.
Yes indeed. It’s certainly entered the consciousness at Casa TLD. I might be doing something like considering cleaning the toilet, and then I stop and say to myself…
“How… hard… could… it… be?”