Top Gear

Series 12

8 episodes 34 seasons

The 12th series of Top Gear contained eight episodes, and premiered on 2 November 2008, with the usual presenting team of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The Stig. Clarkson was injured while filming the series, after crashing a lorry through a brick wall at 56 mph in the first episode's HGV challenge. The running joke regarding the Dacia Sandero continues from series 11, with the alteration that Clarkson is now the one making the announcement with feigned enthusiasm, to utter indifference from May. Each news segment also features one of the hosts wearing something unusual, like slippers or a garishly patterned shirt. The only reference to this is that one of the other hosts will, at some point in the segment, ask if they're wearing it for a bet. The Stig, instead of listening to music during power laps, now listens to morse code. The final episode, the "Top Gear: Vietnam Special", aired two weeks after the rest of the series as part of the BBC's Christmas line-up. The series was followed by four "Best Of Top Gear" specials, charting the best moments from Series 11 and 12.

Release Date

Premiered

Top Gear Season 12 released on November 2, 2008.

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Episodes

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S12E01 Aired November 02, 2008

Episode 1

The team each buy a second-hand lorry, Jeremy tests a scary Porsche 911 on the track, and Michael Parkinson is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

S12E02 Aired November 09, 2008

Episode 2

The team travels to the US to take new generation muscle cars on an epic road trip from San Francisco to Utah. Will Young is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

S12E03 Aired November 16, 2008

Episode 3

James travels to the frozen north to find out why the Finns are such good racing drivers, and Mark Wahlberg is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

S12E04 Aired November 23, 2008

Episode 4

The boys try to drive from Switzerland to north-west England on just one tank of fuel. James tackles his first-ever power test in a Pagani Zonda F Roadster.

S12E05 Aired November 30, 2008

Episode 5

Richard Hammond celebrates the 40th birthday of the Ferrari Daytona on the Italian Riviera. Jeremy Clarkson tests the new BMW M3 saloon and the Lexus IS-F.

S12E06 Aired December 07, 2008

Episode 6

Jeremy Clarkson and James May invade Greenham Common airbase to ask if Communists have ever made a good car. London mayor Boris Johnson is the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car.

S12E07 Aired December 14, 2008

Episode 7

James May travels to California to take a look at what is being hailed as the future of motoring, the hydrogen-powered Honda Clarity.

S12E08 Aired December 28, 2008

Episode 8

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May go to Vietnam and are told to travel the length of the country in eight days - a task the US military failed to do in ten years.