Full Episode: Top Gear - Middle East Special
After crossing into Jordan, the trio visits the Dead Sea—the lowest point on Earth. They attempt to demonstrate the high salinity by having a buoyant Clarkson float. But the real drama comes when they try to drive away. The salt and mud have corroded everything. Hammond’s MX-5 refuses to start. May’s BMW makes a sound like a dying walrus. Clarkson’s Fiat begins to smoke. For ten minutes, three of the UK’s most famous motoring journalists look utterly defeated by a puddle of salt.
You may notice that despite being one of the most famous Top Gear episodes ever made, it rarely appears on Netflix or HBO Max. There are three reasons:
The premise is deceptively simple: find three used, roofless roadsters for under £3,500 and drive from the center of Iraq to the coast of Israel (via Jordan). Of course, the Top Gear production team never does anything simply. The journey begins in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan—a region described by Jeremy Clarkson as "the second most dangerous place on Earth, after a pub in Stoke."
Unlike later Grand Tour specials that relied on multi-million-dollar budgets and scripted explosions, the Middle East Special retains an organic grit. The threat of instability, the heat of the desert, and the genuine mechanical failures create a tension that scripted television cannot replicate. This is the full episode experience: uncut, raw, and hilariously uncomfortable.
The ending of the Middle East Special is arguably the best conclusion in the show's history.
Arriving in Israel, the trio faced a technicality: the Baby Jesus was traditionally placed in a manger. Being Top Gear, they reasoned that a manger was essentially a crib, and a crib was where you put a baby. Therefore, logically, they needed to find a baby. top gear - middle east special full episode
The climax, featuring three exhausted middle-aged men in battered sports cars slowly following a shepherd into a church in Bethlehem, was surprisingly tasteful. It avoided mockery and instead leaned into the absurdity of their journey. The final shot—a static frame of the three cars parked outside the Church of the Nativity, illuminated by the night—was poignant. It was quiet, respectful, and deeply satisfying.
The setup is classic Top Gear. The producers drop the trio in the war-torn border region between Turkey and Iraq. Their goal? To recreate the journey of the Three Wise Men, but with significantly less wisdom and significantly more horsepower.
Unlike the Polar Special or the Bolivia Special, where the environment was the primary antagonist, the Middle East Special introduces a unique tension: the proximity of active conflict zones. As the presenters pick their steeds, the reality of where they are sets in almost immediately.
The episode concludes with the trio entering Israel and making their way toward Bethlehem. The final stretch is surprisingly poignant. The silly exhausts, the broken windscreens, and the arguments fade away as they drive through the night.
They arrive in Manger Square, exhausted and covered in dust. In a moment of uncharacteristic solemnity, they present their "gifts" (Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh—or reasonable facsimiles) and reflect on the journey. After crossing into Jordan, the trio visits the
The final shot—a time-lapse of the three cars parked under the Christmas lights of Bethlehem—remains one of the most beautifully composed endings in the show's history. It serves as a reminder that Top Gear was, at its core, a travel show;
To watch the full episode legally:
Search on Amazon Prime Video (the Top Gear seasons are often included with a Prime membership) or check BBC iPlayer if you’re in the UK. The special is from Series 16, Episode 0 (sometimes listed as a standalone special). You can also buy/rent it from YouTube, Google TV, or Apple TV.
Brief summary of the special (2010):
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May travel from Erbil, Iraq to Bethlehem via Jordan and Israel. They drive used, cheap convertibles:
The trip includes humor, breakdowns, cultural moments, and a final challenge of crossing the desert to reach the Dead Sea — the lowest road on Earth. It’s famous for the “Jesus” car rental gag and the three wise men–style ending.
Would you like a full scene-by-scene breakdown or the list of challenges from the episode? The trip includes humor, breakdowns, cultural moments, and
The Top Gear production team had already mastered the art of the road trip by 2010. However, the Middle East Special added a layer of genuine tension that previous specials lacked. While the Vietnam Special was poetic and the Polar Special was technologically impressive, the Middle East Special was raw, unpredictable, and often dangerous.
Filming took place over 10 days across 1,200 miles of some of the most politically volatile land on Earth. The crew traveled through Iraq, Jordan, Syria (pre-civil war), and into the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Unlike studio-based challenges, the threat here was real—from military checkpoints, extreme heat, and the constant risk of their cheap cars dissolving into dust.
The formula was perfect:
By 2010, the "Clarkson, Hammond, and May" dynamic was fully matured. We saw character arcs that had been building for years:
They were no longer just presenters; they were a dysfunctional family unit. The bickering felt real, but so did the camaraderie. When they worked together to navigate a border crossing or push a car out of sand, it was a reminder that for all their insults, they actually liked each other.