India Special (Top Gear)
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 The special that put Top Gear into neutral.
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The India Special is a Top Gear special released on December 28th, 2011, airing in between series 17 and 18.
Plot
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May ignore the then Prime Minister David Cameron and head to India for a trade mission; the boys hoped to improve Britain's international relations with one of the most heavily populated countries in the world. Beginning in Bombay, the presenters were given a budget of £7,000 to buy a "brilliant" British car. The three were then to journey up India, promoting British products and services along the way until they reached the Himalayan Mountains.
Bad Qualities
- Compared to the previous specials, the segments in this one felt incredibly scripted, and was one of the signs that the writing in the series started to decline.
- There are many unfunny gags, like a toilet being built on the back of Clarkson's Jaguar, as every visiting tourist gets diarrhea.
- The special features three classic cars getting ruined. While this was a recurring moment in Top Gear, the presenters would usually ruin cars as part of an experiment, or destroy those that are generally undesirable and/or underwhelming (such as the Morris Marina). Here, the presenters picked a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow Mk1, a Jaguar XJ-S Celebration, and a classic Rover Mini, which are iconic British cars, which is the equivalent of taking a very rare car and damaging it.
- The special ended the 2011 year of Top Gear (which was already loaded with controversy due to Hammond's rant on Mexicans during the announcement of the Mastretta MXT, a Mexican-built sports car) on a sour note.
The Only Good Quality
- The chemistry between Clarkson, Hammond and May is still good.
Reception
Although the India Special received an 8/10 rating on IMDb, fans of Top Gear gave the special mixed-to-negative reviews, with the special being considered one of, if not the weakest special of the show, either by being a shark-jumping point or an uncharacteristically below average episode sandwiching the 17th and 18th series of the show. The special's lack of resonance with the fans was even lampooned by host Jeremy Clarkson in a later episode.
The special also received controversy in India for the Jaguar toilet scenes, which led to the Indian High Commission criticizing the show's "toilet humour".
Trivia
This is the longest episode/special in Top Gear history, clocking in at over 88 minutes, which led to future specials being divided into two parts.