The brand new series of your very favourite motoring programme is nearly here. Series 22 of Top Gear is almost upon us, but, if you can’t wait, here’s An Evening With Top Gear: a very special preview evening hosted by Jeremy, James and Richard right here on your Internet.

Yep, for the first time ever, this weekend the chaps appeared in front of a live audience in London, to answer questions from across the globe and showcase clips from the new series.

And best of all, you can watch the entire event globally on TopGear.com, the Top Gear YouTube channel and our Facebook and Twitter accounts from 21:00 GMT, Sunday 18 January. If you’re in the UK, you can also watch it on the BBC’s Red Button, or catch up

on the BBC iPlayer.

“Other globally popular television shows have cunning ways of launching their new seasons, such as world tours and the like,” explains Jeremy. “But I thought of an easier way to let the planet know we’re back - the interweb!

“Fond as I am of passport control queues and restricting my carry-on liquids to 100ml, I much preferred the idea of driving one mile from my home in London to celebrate this series with fans everywhere at the same time,” he added.

Hammond, geed up by the prospect of spending his Sunday evening with Jeremy, said: “It’s important that we remind everyone that Top Gear is back, because I feel we’ve been starved of attention lately. I’m looking forward to talking to fans from around the world and finding out what exactly appeals to them about watching three middle-aged men repeatedly fall over.”

James May added: “Using the internet to talk to our fans from around the world is a brilliant idea. It’s exactly what the internet is for. In fact, I’m not sure why I have to drive to a Victorian theatre and sit on an uncomfortable chair to do this. Someone hasn’t thought this through.”