Top Gear (partially found episodes of BBC Two television series; 1977-2002)
Top Gear's logo circa 1984.
Status: Partially Found
Top Gear is a British television show broadcast as a televised weekly automotive magazine between 1978 and 2001, with an earlier series of regional episodes airing in 1977 and a final "Awards" episode airing in February 2002. It was created by Derek Smith, and hosted by a variety of presenters, most notably William Woollard and Jeremy Clarkson, the latter of which would go on to present the show's identically-named reboot from 2002 to 2015.
History
The programme aired on BBC 2 in the United Kingdom for over 25 years and was broadcast to millions of viewers each week. Starting from the 1990s, slightly cut versions of each episode would air internationally on the commercial BBC World service, increasing the show's international exposure and introducing foreign audiences to the eminent main host of the time, Jeremy Clarkson. Despite its enduring popularity, only 4 home videos would be released between 1994 and 2000. An obscure DVD release titled "20 Cars That Changed The World" produced by former host Tiff Needell would be released in 2002, containing footage from Top Gear throughout its initial run and would mark the only time footage from the original series was released on a digital format.
Though it is difficult to ascertain the exact number of episodes, it is known that approximately 550 were broadcast between April 1977 and February 2002, including specials and motor shows, the latter of which would also occasionally air on BBC 1 in order to provide a much more detailed look at each of the shows. Though many episodes of Top Gear survive in varying forms due to home recordings later placed online, most episodes produced before the debut of Jeremy Clarkson in late 1988 are lost in their entirety. Only 16 of the 177 serialized episodes which aired between 1978 and 1988 are available in full. Information on the regional shows produced prior to 1978 remains scarce.
VHS recordings of approximately 250 episodes have been obtained, although are currently not available for release. Below is a list of the series which are known to have aired, and the found status of the episodes within these series. This information is also available in an Excel table.
List of Missing Episodes
Note: series highlighted in red are missing all episodes, series highlighted in yellow are missing a majority of their episodes, and series highlighted in white are at least 50% intact.
| Year | Series | Original Airdates | Found / Total | Missing Episode(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Regional Episodes | 22/04/1977 - 02/12/1977 (03/03/1978?) | 0/9 (12?) | Approximately 4 minutes of footage from the very first episode were aired by the BBC in 2011 and 2016. The rest of the regional series is missing in its entirety. |
| 1978 | 1 | 13/07/1978 - 14/09/1978 | 0/10 | Lost in its entirety. |
| 1979 | 2 | 01/05/1979 - 03/07/1979 | 0/10 | Small fragments of episodes 1, 2 and 5 remain. No full episodes survive. |
| 1980 | 3 | 01/04/1980 - 20/05/1980 | 0/6 | A small fragment of episode 6 remains. No full episodes survive. |
| 4 | 02/09/1980 - 07/10/1980 | 0/6 | Small fragments of episodes 1 and 5 remain. No full episodes survive. | |
| 1981 | 5 | 21/04/1981 - 09/06/1981 | 0/8 | A small fragment of episode 4 remains. No full episodes survive. |
| 6 | 03/11/1981 - 15/12/1981 | 1/7 | A small fragment of episode 1 remains. The earliest full episode, covering the 1981 RAC Rally, survives. | |
| 1982 | 7 | 13/04/1982 - 01/06/1982 | 0/8 | Lost in its entirety. |
| 8 | 07/09/1982 - 03/11/1982 | 0/7 | Lost in its entirety. | |
| 1983 | 9 | 29/01/1983 - 19/04/1983 | 2/9 | Earliest full episodes of regular Top Gear found; 5 and 8. Fragments of episodes 4 and 9 also survive. |
| 10 | 06/09/1983 - 25/10/1983 | 4/8 | Four episodes found; 1, 3, 4, and 7. |
Like much lost media following the abolition of the BBC's tape junking policy in 1978, it is highly unlikely that these episodes are literally lost, a fate which is not shared by Top Gear's predecessor Wheelbase. However, due to the nature of the shows - which feature long-outdated consumer advice and copyrighted footage from many different rights holders, as well as the sheer volume of the series, it is highly unlikely that they will ever be given a home video release, especially when one considers that most episodes have not been seen for 20 years or longer. The episodes were rarely re-aired, and the final sighting was a lone airing of Take 2, an abridged compilation series, in 2008 on BBC Four, which was recorded and put online.