Top Gear: Polar Special (2007) on Netflix

NR20071h 1mComedy Documentary

At Resolute, Jeremy Clarkson and James May set off in a modified Toyota Hilux for the 1996 location of the North Magnetic Pole. Richard Hammond and his dog sled team race them.

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Plot summary

At Resolute, Nunavut, Jeremy Clarkson and James May set out to drive to the North Magnetic Pole's 1996 location, a journey no motor vehicle has made before, in a Toyota Hilux modified by Arctic Trucks. Richard Hammond makes the same trip by dog sled with the American explorer Matty McNair. Their preparations include cold-weather training in Kaprun, Austria and nights of survival practice on the sea ice, and the polar explorer Ranulph Fiennes warns them about the dangers ahead. Both groups leave Resolute for Bathurst Island, an uninhabited island where they plan to camp for the first day. Satellite navigation leads the Hilux across smooth ice while a polar bear follows the sled team.

Cast

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Top Gear: Polar Special (2007)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Jeremy Clarkson and James May were shown drinking gin and tonic while driving through an Arctic ice field, drawing complaints that the footage was "highly irresponsible". The BBC Trust ruled the scene could "glamorise the misuse of alcohol" and was not editorially justified for a family show screened before the watershed.
For the end credits, in homage to the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, everyone involved in filming the episode had their first name replaced with "Sir Ranulph", giving lines such as "Sir Ranulph Clarkson, Sir Ranulph Hammond, Sir Ranulph May".
During the Arctic run, the Hilux carrying Jeremy Clarkson and James May nearly fell through thin ice and had to be rescued by the support team, forcing the team to plot a longer but safer route.
SPOILER
Jeremy Clarkson and James May became the first people to reach the 1996 position of the North Magnetic Pole in a motor vehicle, racing there against Richard Hammond, who traveled by dog sled. They fell 150 miles short of the pole's 2007 position and 1200 miles short of the geographical North Pole.
Because of its achievement, the Hilux driven by Clarkson and May went on display at the Toyota Great Britain Academy in Burnaston, Derbyshire, while the film crew's vehicle was later modified and re-used by May in 2010 to approach the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
This Top Gear special, in which Jeremy Clarkson and James May raced Richard Hammond's dog sled to the 1996 magnetic pole, was the first episode ever aired in HDTV.