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The current episode summaries for each series of Top Gear feature details on each segment. I propose that in addition to this, the "tonight..." opening sequence and the Stig introduction are added to each episode summary. These features are some of Top Gear's most well-known, and are fun, interesting pieces of information to include for each episode.

For example, the summary for episode 17x3:

Opening: "Tonight: I talk to two old ladies; Richard makes a phone call; and James sniffs his own armpit."

Stig Introduction: "Some say that he refuses to acknowledge the existence of Nottinghamshire; and that he recently received a very strong e-mail from his fiancée's mother saying it's bad manners to sit at the dinner table in a helmet. All we know is he's called the Stig!"

Review: Jeremy reviews the McLaren MP4-12C and its main supercar rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia. He praised the comfort, the handling, and the build quality of the Mclaren, but dislikes the lack of joy when he drove it. On the track, it managed to set a blistering lap time of 1:16.2, only 1.1 seconds slower than Ariel Atom 500 and 0.6 seconds faster than a 1,184 bhp Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.

News: The trio discuss the effects that the London 2012 Olympics will have on motoring, suggesting that new cars will need to be built in time for the games in order to make the British public safe from 'Foreign Tourists'. They also ask the point of being in a car owner's club, with Jeremy claiming that standing in car parks admiring other people's cars is simply sad and a waste of time.

Review/"Car Vs. Something" Race: James travels to the American state of Nevada to test the sustainability of the Range Rover Evoque. He attempts to drive the car through Death Valley, testing aspects such as the car's suspension, on-board equipment and ability to sustain a soft ride on all terrain. He also attempts to reach an appointment to chauffeur megastar Cher across Las Vegas, however, is disappointed when it turns out to be a male Cher impersonator, named Steve.

Challenge: Jeremy and Richard attempt to find the best second-hand bargains for the same price as Britain's cheapest new car, the £6,995 Nissan Pixo. Jeremy finds a nine-year-old Mercedes CL 600, whereas Richard opts for a seventeen-year-old BMW 850Ci. The duo ponder the fact that both have V12 engines, many equipment features, and luxurious interiors. The pair decide to road test both vehicles, to see which one has the better handling. They then compete in a drag race, before placing both cars on a rolling road to see how much power they have lost. They then have the cars forensically examined, to find traces of what happened in the car before they owned it.

After the film, James is dismayed that anyone would purchase a used luxury car when they could instead buy a reliable car still under warranty. When Richard informs him that they have actually bought these cars (not merely borrowed them for the show), James bets all of his hair that one of the cars will break down within 2 weeks. And the trio announced the caravan train challenge.

F1 Star In A Reasonably-Priced Car: Reigning Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel sets a time of 1:44.0 in the old Suzuki Liana, becoming not only the fastest ever Formula 1 driver but also the fastest person to ever do a lap.

What are your thoughts? – Nick Mitchell 98 ^talk 05:59, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Strictly speaking, per template instructions, MOS:TV and wide consensus, episode summaries should be 100-200 wrds. Yours has 495 words. Summaries are not meant to be replacements for actually watching the episode and shouldn't contain nminutiae or trivia. The opening and Stig introduction certainly fall into that category. --AussieLegend (✉) 12:38, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@AussieLegend: Please note that the summary is not mine, I just borrowed an existing summary and added the intro and Stig segments to it. – Nick Mitchell 98 ^talk 14:34, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I realise that. It doesn't change anything though. --AussieLegend (✉) 14:58, 12 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That's fine, I did think that they were rather long to begin with. On another note, how does this look with a rewrite to shorten the summaries (using the example from above)? The new summary only overviews the bare essentials of each segment.

Review: Jeremy reviews the McLaren MP4-12C (lap time 1:16.2) and its main supercar rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia.

News: The effects that the London 2012 Olympics will have on motoring; and the point of being in a car owner's club.

Review/"Car Vs. Something" Race: James travels to Nevada, USA to test the sustainability of the Range Rover Evoque and chauffeur a male impersonator of Cher across Las Vegas.

Challenge: Jeremy and Richard attempt to find the best second-hand bargains for the same price as Britain's cheapest new car, the £6,995 Nissan Pixo. Jeremy finds a nine-year-old Mercedes CL 600, whereas Richard opts for a seventeen-year-old BMW 850Ci.

F1 Star In A Reasonably-Priced Car: Then-reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel (lap time 1:44.0).

Thoughts? – Nick Mitchell 98 ^talk 11:48, 13 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Seeing as the specials are considered part of the series they are closest to (although not strictly being part of it), I have done this to try and distinguish where the series themselves begin and end, and when the special(s) was/were broadcast separately. I believe this makes more sense. However, using the template, I was unable to perform a "colspan" for the broadcast date column, making the table look messy. Does anybody have any suggestions and what are your thoughts on whether or not this is an acceptable change - once complete? 109.151.163.193 (talk) 18:30, 12 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, There is a difference in the average viewers from the series overview section and the viewers per episode in the per-season sections. An example of this is season 18, that has an average viewers of 5.11m but the season 18 section says 6.62m, 6.21m, 6.25m, 6.16m, 5.28m, 6.12m, 5.81m & 6.15m. Even at a glance you can see that 5.11m is lower than any of the other numbers, so it's not like someone just missed a number. Seasons 16, 17, 18 & 19 seems to be the effected. Thanks, Conor — Preceding unsigned comment added by Conor026 (talk • contribs) 21:05, 28 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The figures in the Series 18 section show the BBC Two and the BBC HD figures added together. However the average figure in the overview only counts the BBC Two figure. I believe this is the issue. Either way it's a bit of a mess. TheMysteriousEditor (talk) 13:17, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The problem was exacerbated by the efforts of an anonymous editor who, back in December, completely renumbered every episode and moved several from one series to another without any explanation. Some of his edits were reverted but others were not, resulting in numerous errors. --AussieLegend (✉) 16:25, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The new presenters ratings figures are actually the 28 day data, not the 7 day data uaed for all 22 previous series. This makes the ratings for series 23 onwards too high. Or the previous figures too low. Whichever way you look at it, it's a change in methodology which misleadingly shrinks the fall in viewership. 92.3.156.60 (talk) 23:46, 20 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

As of Series 27 this has happened again. Misleading switch to 28 day data...no justification offered. 81.135.234.139 (talk) 18:12, 8 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Why is there no mention of the polar special for season 9?. --Xc4TNS (talk) 04:51, 5 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Because it wasn't part of series 9. The Polar Special was a completely standalone episode and doesn't fit into the series hierarchy, much like Top Gear of the Pops and Top Ground Gear Force. Chaheel Riens (talk) 08:27, 5 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Chaheel Riens: Could a stand alone section for one off specials be a good idea? Mn1548 (talk) 13:57, 30 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]