Radio Times

First, a confession. For all its faults, I love Top Gear. Always have. So what I'm about to say comes from a caring place.

It's losing it. It has peaked. It has become the TV equivalent of the Royal Bank of Scotland a few years ago - swaggeringly successful around the world, headed by cocky men, everyone riding the crest of a big wave. But riding for a fall.

At its best it's still sublime TV, but at its worst it's embarrassing. Much of the latest series felt laboured, forever trying not to sound scripted but failing, particularly in the studio. Jeremy Clarkson's rants aren't getting any funnier, either. In the final episode of the series (2 August BBC2), he hinted that gangs of people picking up electric cars and throwing them into a river might not be a bad idea.

At times like that Clarkson is like a TV joyrider, hoping to be chased by the sirens of political correctness. You get the feeling that he would almost prefer Top Gear to crash and burn in a blaze of controversy than go into a slow decline.

The trouble is, it has become untouchable. What other show could air so many four-letter words when children are watching? Or joke about porn and orgasms before the watershed? What other show would feature, as TG did earlier in the recent run, middle-aged men joshing with 17-year-old girls about sex, as part of a dodgy piece on handbrake turns?

That may have been the moment when TG succumbed to hubris and lost the plot - in TV parlance, "jumped the shark". It's still extraordinary television, of course. It still makes you laugh out loud as often as it makes you wince. But you wish it didn't make you wince so often.

I keep seeing the phrase 'waste of licence payers money'.

How can it be a waste of money when the BBC makes a fortune selling it to every other country, even the non-english speaking ones!

I'm a big TG fan. I like it for its pure entertainment value and don't think it should be taken too seriously. If you want to switch off and have fun watching three men being silly and mostly funny and you like fast cars then its a winner.

But I do agree that the last serious seemed to be slighly formulaic - as if they had either run out of new ideas or were too busy doing other things to put any effort into coming up with new ideas. It was hit and miss. With both the hits and misses ending up a little lower down.

And while I understand that Jezza probably comes up with this anti-environment claptrap because its part of his brand and because of who he thinks his viewers are, its just a little bit too ridiculous for anyone with a iq over 75.

I think Sue the 50-something Vauxhall driver made a very good point when she said that "It's not a car programme, it's entertainment". Unfortunately unlike Sue, this for me is a bad thing. A programme that just a couple of years ago used to be about fast cars and awesome driving with 3 genuinely funny presenters is now just a TV-enhanced soapbox for Jeremy Clarkson, a man who seems to be on a never ending quest to become the world's largest pillock. Occasionally there's a car (probably having another bloody drag race) while Richard Hammond makes ok jokes but then proceeds to drive them six feet under by repeating them over and over. James May on the other hand I have endless time for, and has somehow managed to stay entertaining in the face of overwhelming idiocy. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't watch it anymore, which is a shame as I still love the cars and the driving, and the production is brilliant, however Messrs Clarkson and Hammond are spoiling it a bit for me :-(

I also resent the implication made in a couple of comments that JC's infantile humour is perfect for a petrolhead audience. Wrong. I would place myself firmly in the petrolhead camp (my first car was an old Alfa so I can officially join the club lol), and I certainly don't find him funny (just in case that wasn't already clear :-p) - and believe me, I'm not the only one.

Top Gear is not only the best show on the BBC, but on all TV that is availiable. As a licence payer i would be happy if they doubled, even trebled the shows budget and axe the complete waste of money that is the new BBC digital channels 3 and 4. Top Gear is presented by probably the most entertaining presenters there on on TV, who are thank god not scared of the PC brigade. I would still watch the show even if it ran until Jezza, Hammond and James were in their seventies. Dont change a format that works and pulls in millions of viewers.

I'm a 16 year old girl and I'd like to say that Top Gear is in my opinion the best thing ever to come from television! People who get insulted by the jokes are clearly taking things far too seriously. It's a laugh! If you don't like it then don't watch it. It's not bad taste; it's just not to everybody's taste.

And for God's sake! A waste of licence payer's money? Have you seen half the programmes the BBC make? Eastenders? The Mighty Boosh? The Antiques Road Show? Songs of Praise??? The whole idea of the BBC is that it has programmes for everyone! Not just people who are stuck-up and can't take a joke.

I completely get that if you're not interested in cars then you won't be interested in Top Gear. Solution? Change the channel!!

Finally- Captain Slow, Jezza and Hamster, you guys are legends!

I'm a 17 year old girl and Top Gear is my favorite show. It reminds me of sitting at the kitchen table and listening to my uncles talk about cars, before I got too old to do that. I can see why you might find embarrasing, but to be honest, when I saw those segments, I just thought it was funny. Maybe it's because I am juvenile, so I don't find the humor childish. I don't know. All I know is, they've got fast cars, actually managed to teach me the difference between bhp and torque, and ridiculousness. I think it is the best show on the BBC- but I am an American, and all BBC America ever shows is How Clean is Your House, Ramsey Re-runs, and documentaries about obese transexual pregnant teenagers with anorexia and plastic surgery addictions, so from my perspective, it would be a better budget to scrap all of that crap and get more cars! (if you don't believe me about the craptacular schedule, check it online. it's even worse than I summarized it as)

I'm a 50 something female Vauxhall driver (yes really). And I love Top Gear, just as much for its awful laddishness as for the stunning scenery in the various races. The race to the North was fantastic as was the race against the jet fighter and the interview with "star in the RP car" Michael McIntyre.

It's not a car programme, it's entertainment. If you don't like it, watching is not compulsory so swop channels. I do! any time Eastenders, Corrie, Strictly, X factor, Talent or the like turns up!

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but I can't actually see what all this fuss is about. The last series still had Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May and quite frankly it wouldn't matter what they actually did or talked about because it'e the three of them that make the show what it is. If all they only sat round and read out the telephone directory, I would still find it entertaining - so there!

We still have a choice about viewing Top Gear. We also have the option on making comments, which is nice and I still think a lot of viewers have missed the point because they harp on about saving the license payers money, but is it a truth that Top Gear is sold around the world and make the BBC money?

I do think a lot of the time that we, the inhabitants of the islands, are very parochial in our outlook and should look around the world. After all TG is a entertainment program, with cars and a lot of viewers which does seem to me to be what the BBC stands for.

If people really need to be guided into what car is the best buy for them, there are magazines that serve that purpose. I can vaguely remember the "old" Top Gear, which I had to endure because my then hubby was interested in cars and to be brutally frank, it was boring.

Now I watch it because I find it entertaining. I don't for one moment believe Jeremy Clarkson was expressing his opinion on the current state of Top Gear during that last, evocative film in the Aston Martin. He was voicing his opinion that the PC, muddle-headed environmentalists will have their way and will become so powerful a lobby that supercars will no longer be welcome. Heaven forbid. I do not drive, have never even had a driving lesson, but through Top Gear I have gained an insight into what motoring in its purest form can be, thanks to items such as the aforementioned Aston Martin drive and Jeremy's equally lyrical drive in the CLK Black. I will never be able to afford a thoroughbred racehorse, but I enjoy watching them race at full throttle. Likewise, supercars. Just because 99.9% of TGs viewers can only dream of such cars, doesn't mean they shouldn't be shown. A series of programmes dedicated to the ordinary family car would lose viewers quicker than Usain Bolt can run the 100 metres.

As a 60+ pensioner, I should be offended by some of the comments by the presenters, but I'm not. I find them a refreshing oasis amongst the rest of the BBC output, which persists in using terms such as humankind, spokesperson, etc., expressions which I find far more offensive than their laddish banter.

Perhaps the programme does need to take a look at some aspects of its presentation, but as far as I can see, it is still alive and kicking. When all is said and done, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and if, as has been reported, the budget for the series was "credit crunched" then they did a damn good job with what they were given.

When TG started off, it was just about cars. Now they only seem to be interested in cars if they are fast or sporty cars and, the rest of the time, play around with, as TD posted, cheap and totally pointless 'challenges' of one kind or another.

What's to watch? Nothing, as far as I can see.

the poignant ending said it all, its not the program thats losing it, its society in general.Blame the stupid banks for destroying a lot of peoples hopes and aspirations.Cars have several purposes,practicality,leisure,excitement,convenience and yes even fantasy!! Everybody wants to see exciting cars, pushed to the limit, exotic locations, as well as the presenters endurance challenges.I mean whats the alternative? watching a Peugot Renault vauxhall blah blah pottering around surbiton while they show the average mpg and bhp figures on screen and latest price. If you want that buy a car paper.I would rather see TG anytime. Clever stuff wrapped up in non PC schoolboy antics...bring it on...the rest of you well youve always got Saturday Night telly!!!! give me strength

the poignant ending said it all, its not the program thats losing it, its society in general.Blame the stupid banks for destroying a lot of peoples hopes and aspirations.Cars have several purposes,practicality,leisure,excitement,convenience and yes even fantasy!! Everybody wants to see exciting cars, pushed to the limit, exotic locations, as well as the presenters endurance challenges.I mean whats the alternative? watching a Peugot Renault vauxhall blah blah pottering around surbiton while they show the average mpg and bhp figures on screen and latest price. If you want that buy a car paper.I would rather see TG anytime. Clever stuff wrapped up in non PC schoolboy antics...bring it on...the rest of you well youve always got Saturday Night telly!!!! give me strength

Seeing as Top Gear has been around for a few years now, I wonder if anyone can remember the same being said back when Angela Rippon, and the early presenters of Top Gear were about, did anyone diss them? The fact still remains Top Gear has moved on, it's got bigger, the cars are not the same as they were and therefore it's bound to change. What is wrong bit a bit of harmless tomfoolery, you don't have to watch it, you do have options to switch channels, but rather than do this you chose to "nit pick". Leave Top Gear and the presenters alone, as for licence payers money, I'd rather have this 7 times a week than watch some dreary 17th century drivel that has been made to fill in. And yes, I do turn over when the 17th century drivel is on, I watch re-runs of Top Gear. May, Hammond and Clarkson keep doing what your doing, and Mr Wilman, keep Top Gear just as it is, it works for me.

Top gear..presented by prats...for prats

Paul, I expect that you enjoy watching some television programmes that I do not. Why not consign your favourites to the dustbin as well and save even more money.

Maybe it's gone downhill slightly for series 13 due to something called the 'credit crunch'?!

Whoever this "Paul" guy is, he clearly has no concept of what good television is. It may not be Heartbeat or Last of The Summer Wine or 'Allo 'Allo or whatever out-dated, repeated, monotonous clap-trap is shown but Top Gear, for all it's faults, is still one of the best, if not the best, show airing on the BBC.

As a Top Gear fan, I'll be the first to admit that this series is not one of it's strongest. But the simple matter of the fact is no one's forcing him to watch the show. You don't like Jeremy's infantile humour, switch onto UKTV Gold, there's sure to be an Only Fools & Horses episode there from whatever time he feels must be more approptiate.

Don't drag out the old 'they're wasting our licence money' again. There's a lot of programming that I don't watch yet I wouldn't call for say, Eastenders to be axed. Top Gear has lost something this series - it's become predictable and forced, and there were too many cheap car challenges. Yet Clarkson and May are excellent presenters - they've both made some brilliant documentaries. Hammond's not too bad either. Top Gear should keep the c**king about, but mix it with some good-quality features. The Race to the North was a good example.

Cars simply get you from A to B - simple as...

It has lost a little of its magic, but what other shows have maintained such a high level of entertainment over 13 seasons? I don't think its a waste of taxpayers money, doubtless if we all asked for things to be scrapped on the basis that we don't personally like them there wouldn't be anything left to watch. TG is one of the few bastions against this increasingly H&S-PC, sue-happy world we find ourselves increasingly moving towards. I would be happy to pay double the license fee to watch TG alone.

'The bad taste, stupid, infantile humour of Jeremy Clarkson.'

Well why not? It matches the petrol head audience perfectly.

As a programme it's funny, and brilliantly made. Yes, it's getting a bit tired, but then that happens with all programmes if they run long enough.

The producers have shown that they're bright guys. They'll fix it.

Top Gear is in bad taste and it's certainly infantile but it's also creative, funny and hey - sometimes even educational.

It is past it's prime though and must be due a makeover soon, hopefully with the same level of success as the last. I disagree that it's a waste of licence payer's money - this must be one of the most lucrative licences BBC Worldwide has earns the Beeb it's production costs many times over.

I've never really been much of a fan of Top Gear, but I hear that other people worship the program so I'm not going to try and spoil their fun (on this occasion, anyway).

One thing I will say, though, is that without Top Gear and Jeremy Clarkson we wouldn't have this ingenious mix of phat beats and hilarious sampling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY9u0LxIWJk

I think Top gear should be consigned to the dustbin.

The bad taste, stupid, infantile houmour of Jeremy Clarkson has infected Richard Hammond who used to be a balanced sensible presenter. Now he is as opinionated as Clarkson who speaks from an outdated point of view.

JKames May, who is the only one with two brain cells to rub together, has become the butt of the moronic twosomes jokes The programme has NO relevance to motoring in the present climate and should be scrapped. It wastes an incredible amount of BBC licence payers money. Ditch it now and sack the lot . Save the licence payers money