The seventh episode of the second series of Top Gear aired on the 22nd of June, 2003. It was presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Black Stig. Neil Morrissey was the guest star. with Former Presenter Stuart Hall presenting the week's "Greatest Car" segment, later omitted from future broadcasts. It was the 17th episode overall.
Synopsis[]
The episode begins with turmoil, as the events from the episode which aired two weeks prior resulted in controversy due to the way the classic Jaguar was handled in the presence of the trio. Taking on the brand of 'hooligan' which the newspapers have handed James May, he exclaims that he is going to show the audience how to buy a Volvo diesel, and that Richard Hammond is going to be driving the safest, smallest family car that money can buy. This leads to Jeremy explaining that this episode has a bit of a 'safety theme', much like many of the episodes which aired in Series 2.
Tonight...[]
- A man behaving quickly in our reasonably-priced car...
- A piece of Monument Valley, with wheels...
- And the world's best looking car, in our hangar.
Airing History[]
Series 2, Episode 7 originally aired on the 22nd of June, 2003, on BBC 2. It was then regularly reshown on channels such as BBC Prime and UKTV People throughout the mid '00s, along with the rest of Series 2, before indefinitely ending up as a permanent fixture on Dave from the channel's 2007 debut onwards, albeit in a cut 45-minute version. It would have its Australian premiere in August 2008, and later appear on streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime as part of the earliest available series of the show. It was ultimately added to iPlayer in 2021, however, in the standart (cut) 53-minute version, without the Greatest Car Ever segment. The lost segment still exists on the internet, however, albeit in low quality.
Episode Names[]
Though never given a name upon its original airing, much like every other episode of Top Gear, two slightly different names were retrospectively applied to the episode by the BBC years later:
- Top Gear's section on BBC's website calls it "Richard Flattens a Portakabin".
- Top Gear's own website calls it "The one with the squashed portakabin".
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