Top Gear (2002 TV series)/Series 1/Episode 1

Episode 1 (third pilot)
Thumb 1Thumb 2 The Pagani Zonda goes sideways. Richard Hammond peers into the Ford GT40 Concept.
Prod. code	GFGA001W
No.	1 (since 2002), 550 (since 1977)
Runtime	58:57
Viewers	2.43 million
Next ep.	Series 1, Episode 2
Airdate	UK: 20th October, 2002
International Airdates WO: 13th November, 2002 NL: 26th September, 2003 PR: 9th November, 2004 PL: 19th February, 2005 RU: 28th April, 2005 BE: 22nd July, 2006 (BBC Prime) FI: 4th January, 2007 AU: 23rd February, 2008 KO: 3rd May, 2008 CZ: 3rd April, 2009 HU: 15th June, 2009 Data may not be 100% accurate.

Series 1, Episode 1 of Top Gear aired on the 20th October, 2002. It was the first episode of [[Top Gear (2002 TV series)/Series 1|Series 1]]; the 1st episode of Top Gear since the show's 2002 reboot and the 550th episode overall, including compilations. It was the 541st episode since Top Gear entered national broadcasting in 1978, and was the 2nd programme to air in 2002 out of a total 11. Series 1, Episode 1 was originally broadcast in 576i at a 16:9 Widescreen aspect ratio on British television channel BBC Two. The episode was presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Jason Dawe, and Richard Hammond, alongside The Stig. Harry Enfield was the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car.

This episode marked the revival of the Top Gear name following the 2002 Top Gear Awards special in February. For the first time since 1998, the episode starred Jeremy Clarkson in the role of lead presenter.

Synopsis

As narrated by Jeremy Clarkson:

• I put two supercars head to head.
• Jason Dawe on what to do when car dealers attack.
• Richard Hammond will try to beat a speed camera.
• And there's a Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car.

Jeremy Clarkson starts off with two family hatchbacks, the Ford Focus, represented with a high-performance ST170 model, and the Volkswagen Golf. These cars are quite pricey for their segment, but are not out of the ordinary for cars of this status and level of equipment. However, Clarkson believes there is a cheaper option that will appeal the more frugal motorist.

Airing history

^{For a concise, detailed report on this episode's international airing history, see Airing history.}
As Top Gear was not yet as successful as it would eventually become, broadcasts of this episode were very limited, especially in its original 59 minute form. In addition, after the later success of host James May, episodes from Series 1 would become undesirable and as a result, would be pulled from the BBC World Sales Catalogue after 2009. This was likely due to the fact there were now more than 100 other episodes available for syndication.

United Kingdom

Series 1, Episode 1 would premiere on BBC Two on the night of the 20th October, 2002. Unlike later episodes of Top Gear, the episode would not be repeated following its initial airing, though it would be edited down into a 45 minute version by Red Bee Media for usage on UKTV channels such as UK Horizons, where the episode began airing approximately 2 weeks after its premiere on BBC Two.

Worldwide

Internationally, the episode would first premiere on BBC World on the 13th of November, 2002, 3 weeks after its UK release. It would then be shown in the Netherlands on Veronica from the 26th of September, 2003, 11 months later, before appearing on BBC Prime in November 2004, and then the likes of TVN Turbo in Poland and NTV in Russia during 2005, the latter in a similarly cut-down form to how the episode was shown on BBC World. The episode would be reshown in a handful of countries thereafter, but would not premiere in many Baltic and Balkan nations such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Estonia until as late as mid-2009, a full six and a half years after the episode was first shown in the United Kingdom.

Further reading

This article is intended serve as a basic summation of all the content depicted within Series 1, Episode 1, and deliberately omits or abridges certain details in order to ease reading comprehension and reduce overall page length.
For a fully detailed, in-depth analysis of this episode, please visit Top Gear (2002 TV series)/Series 1/Episode 1/Unabridged.