Regular viewers of TopGear.com will have

noted our excitement about new Bond flick Skyfall…

But Richard Hammond and the TV boys have one

step further in their Bond appreciation: at the end of the month you’ll be able

to watch our latest Top Gear special on your TV screens as Hammond pays tribute

to 50 years of Bond cars.

And our show is, of course, anything but

straightforward. Alongside the Goldfinger DB5, the most iconic Bond car ever

has to be the white underwater Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me. So, after a

few drinks, the crew decided that the best birthday present Top Gear could

possibly give would be a working amphibious Lotus, designed using Top Gear Engineering…

Elsewhere Richard takes a back seat, and

gives the floor to some of the amazing characters who have brought Bond’s car

moments to life over the past half-century. There are appearances from Guy

Hamilton (director of Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and

The Man With The Golden Gun), while Roger Moore joins us to tell tales of the

fish inside the Lotus Esprit. Daniel Craig – in breaks from filming Skyfall – also

talks about driving with The Stig and reveals his favourite Bond car.

UPDATE: the show will air on BBC Two and BBC HD in the UK

at 9pm on Monday 29 October. And for now, here’s a trailer to whet the appetite…

(We’re afraid that for copyright reasons the trailer is only available to view in the UK)