Top Gear: Middle East Special Explained

Series:Top Gear
Series No:16
Episode:2
Director:Phil Churchward
Length:76 minutes
Prev:East Coast Road Trip
Next:Series 16, Episode 1
Season Article:Top Gear (series 16)
Episode List:List of Top Gear (2002 TV series) episodes

"Top Gear: Middle East Special" is a 76-minute-long extended episode of Top Gear series 16. The film predates the Syrian Civil War and involves a 1200miles road-trip from Erbil International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan to Bethlehem, nominally recreating the journey of the Three Wise Men.[1] Their journey takes them across the Middle East via southern Turkey, the cities of Aleppo, Palmyra and Damascus in Syria, then Jerash in Jordan and finally the Mount of Olives.[2] The journey includes visiting an abandoned theme park, and a stop at Ein Gev on the Sea of Galilee.

Planning and filming

Planning for the episode began in January 2010,[3] with the concept of the Baby Stig added later as a plot device to introduce a new Stig following the departure of Ben Collins.[4] The Top Gear convoy included support vehicles for camera crews and the production team, plus a medic and a private security team.[5] Filming took place during October 2010, with the convoy negotiating the Sheikh Hussein Bridge border crossing from Jordan to Israel on 19 October 2010.[3] [6] [7] Subsequent filming took place in Nazareth with the crew departing via Highway 6.[8] The Kurdistan UK Friendship Association, RUS Aviation (suppliers of the Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane), and the Syrian Automobile club are thanked in the credits.[9]

Because it was a BBC production the Top Gear film crew were prevented from crossing the Iran–Iraq border.[10] During filming in Syria, presenter James May suffered a concussion having been knocked over by a tow rope,[1] [11] and was collected from hospital by Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond who were wearing burqas as a disguise.[12] The film crew encountered food poisoning, landmines, and border controls.[13] May was greeted by locals using his name in Iraq and Syria.[14] Whilst crossing Syria the presenters discovered they were extremely popular and well known.[15]

The cars purchased with a budget of £3,500 each have number plates from the country of Georgia.[16] Clarkson is driving a Mazda MX-5, Hammond a Fiat Barchetta Riviera and May a BMW Z3.[16] The team arrives sitting in their vehicles inside a Russian Cargo aeroplane which opens the cargo door prior to landing and performs a go-around, before the starting location is revealed as Iraq.[16]

Experiments were made on bulletproofing the car doors. During the trip the cars were decorated in a Bedouin-style, with survival equipment, and one car with bull bars and a large hookah.[17] Hammond's car was transformed to give the appearance of a nomadic tent; additionally, Clarkson and May pranked him by fitting his car with a car stereo that played songs by Genesis (a band Hammond doesn't like) non-stop.[18] May's BMW was camouflaged using inspiration from the Afrika Corps,[19] and Clarkson's Mazda received a Technicolour Dreamcoat-style paint scheme.[20] During a NASCAR-style rally race at a Roman circus, the Gladiator soundtrack is played along with music from Ben-Hur.[21] Clarkson narrates the words "Peace on Earth, and Goodwill to all men" from the Annunciation to the shepherds as the team are seen passing the West Bank barrier.[22] The episode ends with the presenters finding a miniature version of The Stig, complete with racing overalls and helmet.[23] The presenters' gifts are a gold-relief medallion, a shampoo bottle called "Frankincense" and a Nintendo DSi XL in lieu of myrrh.[16]

Broadcast

Along with the Top Gear: East Coast Road Trip it was one of two specials produced in 2010.[24] It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on 26 December 2010 and watched by 5.863 million viewers on BBC Two plus 546,000 viewers on BBC HD.[25] The following-day repeat had a 7-day total of 2.988 million viewers on BBC Two, plus 202,000 on BBC HD.[26] By the end of December 2010, it had been viewed 1.26 million times on the BBC iPlayer.[27] It was scheduled for broadcast in Australia on 8 February 2011 on Channel Nine,[28] and watched by 792,000 viewers.[29] The adventure was included in the "Top Gear – The Great Adventures 1–4" DVD box set released in 2016.[30]

After the screening of the episode the three main cars joined the World of Top Gear exhibition in the collection of the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu in England.[19] [31] [32] The cars were exhibited again at the ExCeL London conference centre for Top Gear Live in November 2011.[33] [34] Unpainted HO scale and TT scale models were made available for 3D printing.[35]

Reception

At the time, The Daily Telegraph described it as "one of the best [Top Gear] specials yet."[24] In 2015 the Swiss magazine Watson (de) included the Middle East Special on their top-eighteen best Top Gear moments describing it as the best Christmas Special of all time.[36] In 2021, Clarkson described the Middle East Special as the best of the adventures to watch.[37]

For the Middle East Special the BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee reviewed two rejected appeals in June 2011, two in July 2011 and one in October 2011, noting in all instances that they were "satisfied that the decision not to proceed with the appeal was correct."[38] [39] [40]

Notes and References

  1. News: James May hurt during Top Gear stunt. The Daily Telegraph. 23 December 2010. 22 October 2017.
  2. The Grand Tours Jeremy Clarkson on the One Critic Who Got to His Head and Why He's Not Optimistic About His Legacy. Devon. Ivie. 8 December 2017. 11 December 2017. Vulture.com. [Devon Ivie] … filming in Syria and Iraq, what, six years ago? [Jeremy Clarkson] A brief window. We were only 40 kilometers from Mosul then. We drove through Aleppo. I've never forgotten — James May got out of his BMW in Syria and there was a big crowd shouting at him, "Welcome to Syria, Mr. Slowly!" And I went off for a cup of coffee in this little shop and had a fantastic night there. You look at it now, and the cities are simply gone. Erased. … And then we went to Jerusalem. That’s not going to be possible for the next week or two, for sure..
  3. Web site: Top Gear, sour grapes. Matthew. Teller. My blog Quite Alone. blog. 28 December 2010. 23 October 2017. It was last January – Jan 2010, that is – when I first heard that a BBC researcher from Top Gear was interested in having a chat with me about a Christmas special they were planning, ... my Rough Guide to Jordan ... Struck me over weekend that this might also be of interest: http://jerashchariots.com Can just imagine the 3 of them racing, Ben Hur-style, around the Roman hippodrome... ... the bizarre dogleg detour which took them from the Sheikh Hussein Bridge into the Golan Heights.
  4. Book: Porter, Richard. https://books.google.com/books?id=c5tFCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT120. And On That Bombshell: Inside the Madness and Genius of Top Gear. The Stig Too. 120–121. 22 October 2015. 9781409164753. with Ben very publicly out of the white suit ... now we just had to work out how to introduce a new Stig who looked just like the old one. ... Then someone suggested that since the upcoming Middle East special was planned to end in Jerusalem, what if we found a baby Jesus Stig in a lowly stable and claimed this was the birth of the new tame racing driver?.
  5. News: We interview James (Captain Slow) May. The Star Tognight. Independent Online. South Africa. Debashine. Thangevelo. James. May. James May. 8 February 2011. 25 October 2017. May confirms that they were accompanied by a small contingent of private security and a medic on their recent 2000km ... drive through the Middle East, stopping over in Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank..
  6. News: טופ גיר מצלמים בישראל. Walla!. Top Gear filming in Israel. 19 October 2010. 23 October 2017. he. שלושת מנחי הסדרה הבריטית – ג'רמי קלארקסון, ג'יימס מאי וריצ'ארד האמונד, נצפו באחד ממעברי הגבול בין ירדן לישראל כשכל אחד מהם נוהג במכוניות רודסטר שעברה ימים יפים יותר.
  7. Web site: Top Gear trio spotted filming special in Israel. Noah. Joseph. 20 October 2010. 26 October 2017. Autoblog. crossing westward over the border between Jordan and Israel in a dingy trio of roadsters ... accompanied by convoy of support vehicles for the production and camera crews.
  8. News: BBC's Top Gear car show races through Israel. The Jerusalem Post. Ben. Hartman. 22 October 2010. 24 October 2017. Mazda Miata driven by Clarkson that had a hookah affixed to its drivers' side door. ... Channel 2 reported that the Top Gear crew was seen filming in Nazareth, before tearing through the hills chased by paparazzi to Highway 6, where they high-tailed it south toward Jerusalem..
  9. Top Gear: Middle East Special. Top Gear. Top Gear (2002 TV series). 16. SP2. 26 December 2010.
  10. News: Top Gear in Iraq: bullets, The Stig and 'a few wars'. https://web.archive.org/web/20101223071035/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/columnists/jamesmay/8204456/Top-Gear-in-Iraq-bullets-The-Stig-and-a-few-wars.html. dead. December 23, 2010. The Daily Telegraph. Olly. Grant. 21 December 2010. 22 October 2017. Iran refused them entry: the BBC is banned there.
  11. News: James May Injured Filming Top Gear Stunt. Sky News. Michael. Burgess. 23 December 2010. 23 October 2017. Suffering a severe concussion, ... May said: 'I stood in the line of where the tow rope went taut. ... '.
  12. News: Top Gear stars cause row after burqa-style stunt. Sydney Morning Herald. Megan. Levy. 29 December 2010. 22 October 2017.
  13. Book: Porter, Richard. A Top Gear Christmas: A Compendium of Christmas Carnage. Random House. 2011. 25 October 2017. 9781849901543. The Middle East: ... path of the Three Wise Men across Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel, ... to the finish line in Bethlehem. Except the Three Wise Men never had to deal with landmines, food poisoning and scary border controls..
  14. Web site: We interviewed Jeremy Clarkson and James May about Top Gear, The Grand Tour, Tesla, and autonomous cars. Scott. Oldham. Jeremy. Clarkson. Jeremy Clarkson. James. May. James May. 31 October 2016. 25 October 2017. Autoblog. Jeremy Clarkson: ... Syria, in Al-Raqqah, which basically doesn't exist anymore. ... He got out of the car ... "Welcome to Syria, Captain Slow," ... went into a shop and they were showing Top Gear as we were in the shop. ... Jeremy Clarkson: ... in Iraq. ... James May: ... a burger van, ... in the middle of nowhere. There was this one bloke ... And he said, "Oh, hello James. What are you doing here?".
  15. News: The UK can still wield its 'soft' power status. Gulf News. 21 October 2017. 24 October 2017. Lubna. Qassim. To cite two random examples of the UK's ability to project its culture for powerful diplomatic effect, in "Top Gear's" 2011 Middle East special, the three presenters discovered that not only did Syrians watched the show in their droves, but the presenters were extremely popular..
  16. Book: Buckland, Damien. Top Gear: 1977–2015. Top Gear Middle East Special. 291. https://books.google.com/books?id=RH04CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT291. 8 June 2015. 23 October 2017. 9781326293284.
  17. Web site: Top Gear Does Israel In Bedouin Beaters. Jalopnik. Matt. Hardigree. 20 October 2010. 24 October 2017. The cars, ... look remarkably Bedouin. ... outfitted with survival gear like extra water jugs, brush guards, shovels, and the aforementioned giant hookah..
  18. Book: Roach, Martin. The Top Gear Story – The 100% Unofficial Story of the Most Famous Car Show... In The World. 161. 5 June 2014. 24 October 2017. 9781784180904. they disguised one car as a Bedouin tent, tested out how to bullet-proof car doors and fitted Hammond's Mazda with a stereo that constantly played the Genesis.
  19. Web site: Top Gear shows three new cars from The Three Wise Men Christmas Special. Andrew. Christian. 29 December 2010. 24 October 2017. 4WheelsNews. at Beaulieu, three new cars from The Three Wise Men Christmas Special are now on display. ...James' malfunctioning BMW Z3 had a clever camouflage paint scheme, inspired by the work of the Luftwaffe and the Africa Corps..
  20. Book: Top Gear: The Stigtionary. Penguin UK. 6 September 2012. 98–99. 9781405910149. "the MX-5 ... is not improved by the addition of extra rear wheels or a 'Technicolour Dreamcoat' paintjob....
  21. Web site: Top Gear Middle East Special: Roman Rallying. Juliette. Harrisson. blog. Blogspot. 7 August 2013. 26 October 2017. Roman circuses were in the shape of flat versions of NASCAR tracks ... The music, ... is the Ben-Hur soundtrack for the introductory bit and the Gladiator soundtrack for the racing.
  22. Web site: Top Gear not very PC?. 29 December 2010. 1 November 2017. Motorsport M8. Richard. Bailey. Clarkson was also critical in his narrative about Israel, referring to it (with no small amount of irony) as a peaceful country while simultaneously there was footage of the high wall it has built around the West Bank to segregate the Palestinians..
  23. News: Top Gear special sparks anger from viewers for Baby Stig. Metro. London. 29 December 2010. 23 October 2017.
  24. News: Top Gear's back: from East Coast to the Middle East. https://web.archive.org/web/20101223050024/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8216772/Top-Gears-back-from-East-Coast-to-the-Middle-East.html. dead. December 23, 2010. Daily Telegraph. 21 December 2016. 26 October 2016. foreign extravaganzas as Christmas specials ... For the second programme, which will air on Boxing Day, the trio abandon Britain's wintry climes and head off to the Middle East ... Kurdistan, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Israel ... one of the most entertaining specials yet..
  25. News: Upstairs Downstairs wins its slot, but Downton Abbey did it better. The Guardian. John. Plunkett. 30 December 2010. 26 October 2017. Top Gear, BBC2, 8pm, Boxing Day – ... in which Clarkson, Hammond and May followed the path of the three wise men, averaged 5.863 million viewers, a 21.5% share, with another 546,000 on BBC HD. It gave BBC2 a rare ratings victory over ITV1..
  26. Weekly top 10. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. 26 October 2017. [27 December 2010–2 January 2011] ... BBC HD ... w/e 2 Jan 2011 ... Top Gear (Mon 1848) ... [7 day data (000s)] 202; ... BBC2 ... w/e 2 Jan 2011 ... Top Gear: Middle East Special (Mon 1845) ... [7 day data (000s)] 6,647.
  27. Web site: 'Top Gear' drives record iPlayer December. Digital Spy. Andrew. Laughlin. 18 January 2011. 24 October 2017. BBC iPlayer enjoyed a record-breaking December, ... Top Gear continued to dominate the TV requests chart, with the 'USA Road Trip' special attracting 1.29m and the 'Middle East' Special pulling in 1.26m..
  28. Web site: Top Gear: Middle East special. TV Night. 1 February 2011. 24 October 2017. David. Knox. Nine begins new episodes of Top Gear next week beginning with the 'Middle East' special ... airs Tuesday, February 8, at 8.00pm.
  29. Week 8. 14 February 2011. 24 October 2017. TV Tonight. David. Knox. Tuesday: ... [Rank] 12; [Description] Top Gear; [Station] Nine; [Total] 792,000; [Sydney] 233,000; [Melbourne] 285,000; [Brisbane] 131,000; [Adelaide] 70,000; [Perth] 74,000..
  30. Web site: The Giz UK Gift Guide for Fans of Top Gear/The Grand Tour. Gizmodo. Tom. Pritchard. 11 December 2016. 24 October 2017. Top Gear – The Great Adventures 1–4' ... in this box set, ... the special episodes ... and The Middle East. ... special.
  31. News: Top Gear cars at the National Motor Museum . The Daily Telegraph. Chris. Knapman. 4 January 2011. 23 October 2017. the vehicles from the show's Three Wise Men Christmas Special, ... part of the World of Top Gear exhibition at Beaulieu..
  32. News: Top Gear cars on display at Beaulieu. Daily Telegraph. Chris. Knapman. 23 May 2011. 24 October 2017. including the three roadsters from the 2010 Three Wise Men Christmas special.
  33. Web site: Top Gear Live powers into London!. Motorious. blog. 26 November 2011. 24 October 2017. Top Gear Live is go go go at the ExCel London, ... a few treasured bits of Top Gear TV including the Christmas special convertibles,.
  34. Web site: Top Gear Live. Stephanie. Usher. Hope, Freedom, Love. 15 November 2011. 24 October 2017. blog. A big fave of mine was seeing the cars they used to go and see Baby Jesus, aka Baby Stig in the Christmas special last year. ... Jeremy's car used in the Christmas Top Gear Special 2010.
  35. [H0 scale]
  36. Der einzige Clarkson-Artikel, den du brauchst: Das sind die 18 besten "Top Gear"-Momente. The only Clarkson article you need: the best eighteen "Top Gear" moments. Oliver. Baroni. Watson. 25 March 2015. 23 October 2017. de. 11. Das Weihnachts-Special: ... nach Bethlehem in Budget-Occasions-Sportwagen: Das beste Weihnachts-Special aller Zeiten..
  37. News: Jeremy Clarkson admits Top Gear Middle East special was 'amazing' in Twitter revelation. Luke. Chillingsworth. 2021-01-22. 2021-01-24. Daily Express. Jeremy quickly replied: "Botswana was great. Mongolia too. But the Middle East was probably the most amazing to watch." Released in 2010, Top Gears Middle East Special saw the trio follow the journey of the Three Wise Men to Bethlehem..
  38. Appeals to the Trust and other editorial issues considered by the Editorial Standards Committee. Editorial Standards Findings. June 2011 issued July 2011. 27 July 2011. 24 October 2017. 48–51. Editorial Standards Committee. BBC Trust.
  39. Appeals to the Trust and other editorial issues considered by the Editorial Standards Committee. Editorial Standards Findings. July 2011 issued October 2011. 21 October 2011. 24 October 2017. Editorial Standards Committee. BBC Trust. 31–34. Top Gear: Middle East Special, BBC Two, 26 December 2010 ... The complainant appealed to the Editorial Standards Committee following the decision of the Head of Editorial Standards, BBC Trust, not to accept his complaint on appeal. ... The Committee was therefore satisfied that the decision not to proceed with the appeal was correct..
  40. Appeals to the Trust and other editorial issues considered by the Editorial Standards Committee. Editorial Standards Findings. October and November 2011 issued December 2011. 22 December 2011. 24 October 2017. 27–31. Editorial Standards Committee. BBC Trust.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Top Gear: Middle East Special".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.