Top Gear (1977 TV series)/Series 26/Reverse Gear

Reverse Gear 1991
As advertised the previous week.
No.	241
Runtime	30:00
Prev ep.	Series 26, Episode 14
Next ep.	Series 27, Episode 1
Airdate	27th December, 1991

The 1991 Reverse Gear special of Top Gear aired on the 27th December, 1991. It was the fifteenth episode of Series 26; the 241st episode of Top Gear overall, including compilations. It was the 232nd episode since Top Gear entered national broadcasting in 1978, and was the 25th programme to air in 1991 out of a total 25. The 1991 Reverse Gear special was originally broadcast in 576i at a 4:3 Standard aspect ratio on British television channel BBC Two. The episode was primarily presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Tiff Needell, and William Woollard. Other hosts may have made an appearance, but it is not possible to ascertain for sure without the episode in a publicly-viewable manner.

This programme is notable for being the very first "Best of" style compilation featured on Top Gear. It would be followed by three further specials through to the end of 1993, with later programmes such as Top Gear Take 2 and Top Gear Ex-Files offering a more in-depth focus into Top Gear's voluminous archives.

Synopsis

Due to the closing sequence of the previous week's episode remaining intact, it is at least known that the Jaguar XJR-15 segment from Series 25, Episode 10 and the Lamborghini retrospective and review from Series 26, Episode 4 made an appearance, but the rest of the episode's material is unknown. The production code, based on the previous two episodes, would likely have begun with the string "NBMP051" with an extra letter at the end, or possibly "NBMP076" if following the pattern set by the first twelve.

Trivia

• This would be the final episode of Top Gear to feature William Woollard due to containing archive footage from Series 25.
• Outside of re-runs, this was the first time content previously presented within a Top Gear episode was compiled and reshown to make a "new" episode.