Show is likely to attract series’ biggest ever audience when it is aired in a Sunday night slot

The final Top Gear episode to feature Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May will air on BBC2 on 28 June, it has been announced.



The 75-minute programme will feature two films with the three presenters recorded before Clarkson’s suspension and subsequent axing after his assault on a producer.

Broadcast in the programme’s traditional 8pm Sunday night slot, it is likely to be Top Gear’s most watched edition ever given all the publicity around the show and Clarkson’s departure.

With a typical audience of around 6 million viewers, the show’s biggest ever audience was 8.4 million when Lewis Hamilton appeared as a guest.

Trailer for Jeremy Clarkson’s final Top Gear show

A 30-second clip from the programme released earlier this month shows the three on familiar form churning up the countryside and appearing to destroy at least one caravan.

They are all seen wearing dinner suits for a challenge in which the last to arrive, says Clarkson, “will be doing the after-dinner speech”. The presenter is later seen driving wearing goggles.

The BBC said the trio would “immerse themselves in the lifestyle of the traditional classic car enthusiast” and try to become “lifestyle leisure enthusiasts” on a budget of £250 each.

The final Top Gear to feature all three presenters - for the foreseeable future at least - the swansong show will be up against coverage of the Glastonbury music festival on sister channels BBC3 and BBC4.



ITV has an episode of Surprise Surprise in the schedule at that time, presented by Holly Willoughby, while Channel 4 viewers will be treated to the final of the 2014 Shed of the Year competition, an Amazing Spaces special.



The future of the show remains unclear, with the BBC keen for Hammond and May to return, but the pair thought more likely to join Clarkson at a rival broadcaster without using the Top Gear name.



Hammond and May returned to the programme’s studios to record links for the programme, with Clarkson also returning to the BBC to record new voiceovers for the films despite his contract coming to an end in March.

The BBC said Clarkson was not paid for the work which was carried out under the terms of his old contract.

