The third episode of the third series of Top Gear aired on 9th of November, 2003. It was presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and The White Stig. Rob Brydon was the guest star. It was the 23rd episode overall.
Synopsis[]
This episode is introduced by Jeremy showing off the then-new Bentley Continental GT, informing us that 'GT' stands for 'Grand Tourer'. So he took it on a 'Grand Tour' to 'God's Waiting Room'; the English Riviera.
Tonight...[]
- James drives a car that you can hand on to your grandchildren...
- [Jeremy] engage[s] reheat in a hot Saab...
- And Richard almost drowns!
In later broadcasts and on streaming services, the Tonight sequence comments are replaced with new comments, including Jeremy most notably mentioning that on Today's show.. the new lines are as follows;
- The splendid new Bentley Continental...
- Subaru's rugged new Legacy...
- And [Jeremy] make[s] smoke in a hot Saab.
Segments[]
Cool Wall[]
The Cool Wall makes a return, appearing on Top Gear for the first time since Series 2, Episode 6. 6 new additions are placed onto the wall in this episode:
| Car | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Bentley Continental GT | C |
| BMW M3 CSL | SU |
| Ford GT | U |
| Porsche 911 GT3 | SZ |
| BMW 5 Series | SU |
| Saab 9-5 Aero | C |
Airing History[]
Series 3, Episode 3 originally aired on the 9th of November, 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 3, 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 later appear on streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and IPlayer.
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 "Hammond Nearly Drowns".
- Top Gear's own website calls it "The one with the drowned Hamster".
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