Top Gear - Series 1: Episode 1 (lost unaired pilot episodes of BBC Two television series; 2002)

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A screen capture from Series 1, Episode 6 of Top Gear. It is possible some footage shot for the pilot ended up in this episode.

Following the announcement of its cancellation in August 2001 and subsequent final episode in February the following year, BBC's motoring show Top Gear underwent a significant revamp and relaunch in October 2002, which focused on the more light-hearted aspects of motoring. The pilot episode which would eventually air on the 20th of October, 2002 featured Harry Enfield as the show's inaugural guest star, and reviews of the Citroen Berlingo and Mazda 6, as well as an attempt to beat a speed camera using three sports cars. Although it only attracted 2.43 million viewers on its debut outing, Top Gear would soon rise to the top of BBC Two's programming and become an international sensation in the years that followed.

As revealed by director Richard Porter in his 2015 autobiography And On That Bombshell: Inside the Madness and Genius of Top Gear, there were two earlier pilots filmed in August 2002 which never saw the light of day as they were deemed unwatchable and almost led to the voluntary dismissal of presenter Richard Hammond.

This pilot featured French footballer David Ginola as the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car, and featured a review of the Renault Vel Satis, which was delayed until the sixth episode of Series 1. According to Porter, the initial studio set was comprised of a large, round steel cage which separated the presenters from the audience. In addition, an autocue was used to keep the presenters on-track with relevant discussion, rather than allowing them to speak their mind. As the format was yet to air and the presenters had not yet settled into their roles, Ginola was under the impression that he would be a permanent presenter of Top Gear rather than a one-time guest. He would chime in with his thoughts on each segment, though this was something he was instructed to do.

After watching the pilot, it was decided to reshoot the episode from scratch, without Ginola, an autocue, or any of the set pieces from the first pilot, with cars being the only objects inside the hangar. The camera work on this was deemed substandard by Porter due to the lack of studio lighting and resulted in Richard Hammond walking out halfway through production, exclaiming that he didn't want to continue filming. By September of 2002, a definitive pilot episode was yet to be shot.

As he was not a presenter for the first series, James May would continuously ask to watch the pilot episodes after several years of having served as a presenter, and was always told no. The tapes containing the pilots were locked in a drawer and never seen again.

It is possible that parts of one or both pilots were included in Series 1, Episode 6 which featured the Vel Satis review, along with members of the Renault Owner's Club and a possible part of the aforementioned cage, which was used for the inaugural Cool Wall segments before a bigger, more elaborate wall was used for the next few series. However, neither pilot episode has seen the light of day since their initial filming.