Series 19 of '' Top Gear'', a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

and

BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...

during 2013, consisting of five episodes between 29 January and 24 February, and a two-part feature-length special involving a road trip in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, titled "Africa Special", aired on 3–10 March. This series' highlights included the presenters race from London to Milan, a supercar road trip across

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and the creation of a home-made car for the elderly. The nineteenth series received criticism for one of its episodes' early filming featuring

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes '' Top Gear'' and '' The Grand Tour'' alongside R ...

seeming to use a racial slur during a car review film.

Episodes

Criticism

Following accusations of racism made against

for use of "Slope" comment in the Burma Special, an examination of his review of the Toyota GT86 and the Subaru BRZ in the nineteenth series revealed further criticism of racism. British newspaper ''The

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its Masthead (British publishing), masthead was simpl ...

'' revealed video evidence that in his reviews, in which he had used the rhyme '' eeny meeny miny moe'' for choosing the cars, one of the earlier takes of the scene featured him mumbling the word "

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

", which was historically a part of the rhyme's earlier versions; the actual transmitted scene used the word "teacher" instead of the racial epithet. Clarkson initially denied the incident, but eventually issued an apology following the evidence's appearance. In his apology, he stated that he was "extremely keen" to avoid using the word, and that he had to do three takes with the film, adding that he was "mortified" that he appeared to actually mumble the word and that he did everything he could to avoid it being transmitted on the show. He further proved this was the case with a note he sent to the production office, which read:

"I didn't use the N-word here but I've just listened through my headphones and it sounds like I did. Is there another take that we could use?",

This incident was one of two reasons that led to the BBC ultimately giving Clarkson a "final warning" in regards to the corporation's views on racist remarks.

Notes

The viewing figures shown in the Episode Table above, are a combination of the figures from the BBC Two broadcast and the BBC HD broadcast.

References

External links

Top Gear (series 19) at Top Gear Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Top Gear (series 19) 2013 British television seasons Top Gear seasons