Top Gear bills itself as the World’s Greatest Car Show and I would have to agree that it is. Top Gear is a BBC tradition – the original format ran from 1977 to 2001, with the current version running from 2002 till today. It is one of the few car shows that is not all about super-fast and cool-looking cars. In reality, while it is a car show, it is as much a show about three friends who love cars … and have a great time together. To see what I mean, read this piece from Slate.

Thinking of all of the things that I will miss when I leave the UK, I am sure that this is going to be one of them … even though it is available on BBC America … because it is truly a slice of British life. It is watched by more than just car-mad people (the women that work in the St Cross office watch it) and the presenters are not worried about offending anyone (see the recent comments about the PM being ‘a one-eyed idiot’). In addition to being one of the few politically-incorrect pieces of entertainment on TV, they are also real people. They are not the reality-TV types, but real people with real families (and real jobs because they are all journalists).

But, to the real reason that I started to write this post, … it appears that the conversion of Top Gear to the USA has fallen through! And, you would think that I would be sad because of my love of the show, but the exact is true! I am happy because any attempt to recreate it would fail (for example, see Five’s Fifth Gear).