Abstract
BBC motoring show Top Gear claims to be the most popular television programme in the world, but despite this, has been subject to no scholarly investigation. The article explores its history, reasons for its popularity and the central role played by its three presenters, particularly its longest-serving, Jeremy Clarkson. Four reasons are advanced to explain its academic invisibility: generic hybridity (combining consumer advice with comedy); excess masculinity; anti-environmentalism; and a scholarly nervousness about approaching a text that blatantly flaunts its reactionary political positions. Discourses of fantasy and failure, permeating the programme, are also explored for their role in disarming criticism.
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