Top: Gear Specials Middle East

9/10 – A classic. The gold standard for the "pilgrimage" genre of car television.

When Top Gear embarks on a special, the formula is deceptively simple: take three middle-aged men, give them impossibly cheap cars, and send them across some of the most hostile terrain on Earth. The 2010 Middle East Special is a masterclass in this formula, swapping the usual jungles or poles for the biblical deserts of the Levant. The mission? To re-enact the journey of the Three Wise Men (Magi) from the roof of a hotel in Ash Sharqiyah, Iraq, to the "birthplace of Jesus" in Bethlehem, West Bank. top gear specials middle east