None of which had anything to do with the latest episode of Top Gear. In fact, tonight's dreary dispatch might have benefitted from a light sprinkling of Clarkson-as-human-blunderbuss. Clearly in recovery following enjoyable excursions to the Canadian Rockies and sand-swept North Africa – where Clarkson was sent for the solitary purpose of grousing about Peugeot's retreat from automotive derring-do – the seventh outing of the latest series was muted, underwhelming and in dire need of a battery recharge.