User:Lee Rademeyer/Sample page

Top Gear: Burma Special is the two-part full length special to BBC motoring programme Top Gear. First broadcast on BBC Two as the special edition episode to Series 21, Part-one airing on 9th March 2014 and part-two airing a week later on 16th March 2014. Part-one and part-two together come to the total runtime of 125 minutes making it equivalent to a standard feature length film. In this time its hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are tasked with the challenge to travel across Burma, known currently as Republic of the Union of Myanmar, to Thailand in order to build a bridge over the River Kwai, in reference to the 1952 novel of the same name in which British POW's construct a bridge under the orders of the Imperial Japanese Army. In order to make their journey all members must acquire second-hand lorries and meet at the starting point of the road trip.

Part One
To begin the show off the presenters are required to meet up at the set location in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar ,referred to as "Burma" throughout the episode, in three second-hand trucks they had purchased for the trip. Assembling in the old capital city of Yangon, currently the capital is Naypyidaw, each host arrives one after the other and presents their vehicle of choice. Jeremy Clarkson is seen pulling into screen in a bright yellow sports Isuzu TX, shortly followed by James May in a Hino FB110 with a big red crane on the rear and last but not least Richard Hammond in a Isuzu TX for crop harvesting. Finally united they receive their task to replicate the tale from the film  'The Bridge on the River Kwai' and make their own bridge over the river but strong enough to support their three trucks. With their route sorted they set off deciding to travel north to Burma's northernmost border crossing with Thailand.

Making their way through Yangon traffic they find themselves discovering the faults of their new second-hand automobiles and how they are amplified by the chaos of the packed streets and right-hand drive cars on the right side of the road. Moving on into the countryside in hopes driving would easier for them they drove into the night where they discovered it would only get worse. After several hours of driving they reached their overnight accommodation only to be left with bad backs and no sleep. To rub it all in after consulting the map they soon find out from a local man they are not in the right town. May, having lead everyone closer to Bangladesh than Thailand, was relieved of his navigation duty and they once again set off from Pyay back toward their correct destination Naypyidaw.

On the way to their next destination Clarkson finds the lack of weight in the back of his truck is causing a really bouncing ride so during a village pit-stops he manages to fill his truck with heavy objects such as bricks, sacks of grain and a very large tree stump. Only to be challenged by a hill and forced to unloaded everything in order to lose weight but in doing so leaving his co-hosts stuck clearing the debris off the road. May and Hammond having caught up are greeted with Clarkson crossing a river and processed to follow but in doing so May's truck is damaged so he is left behind. Even with the others head-start May is seen back in action and caught up to them thanks to the help of local innovation. Luckily, a highway is found and all is back on track. Arriving in Naypyidaw, they are once again sleeping rough so in the morning they will modify their vehicle into their accommodation. May adds a brake cooling system, Buddha, lucky animal figures, high-viz paint job and a tent which he hangs on his truck’s crane. Clarkson adds white paint with two blue stripes, Mercedes AMG badges on the side, a bedroom and removes the roof in the cab making it a convertible “sports lorry”. Hammond adds a viewing platform, two tall truck exhausts, a hammock, cooking facilities, a shower and new chair for the cab. The three decide to have a football game and a drag race in the vast, empty highway of Naypyidaw to then proceed onto the Shan State.

Part Two
In the second instalment of the Burma Special Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond find themselves entering the Shan State, a secretive region of Burma known to be in a civil war and has been raging for over 60 years. At the time of filming no television crew has ever been allowed in, making Top Gear the first western programme to film a production in its borders. Entering the Shan, the first thing done by the three hosts is a lorry race through it to the middle where they stop in for coffee and discuss why they were the first allowed in, only to come to the conclusion of being a horrible example of Western society further deterring Shan locals from trying to pursue it. On the road again they notice a large army presence and baby civil engineers constructing the road around them. Exhausted after several hours of travel they drove into their destination, where they are made aware of a invitation to a party welcoming them to the Shan state. Trying to make a good first impression as Ambassadors for the BBC the hosts tidying themselves up and head off to their welcome party. With the party being a success they continued south to the border of Thailand but not without steep bendy roads, accidents and boyish pranks.

Fortunately, they found themselves 80 miles(128.75 Kilometres) from the border of Thailand but unfortunately none of those miles would be gentle on them. Especially for Clarkson who was left with a leaky radiator after an accident with Hammond and May who's front axial remained held on with a strap and failing cylinders. Even that didn't stop the presenters from successfully making it to the border with Thailand leaving them nothing else to do but to reminisce of their time there as they crossed. This meant they were now 19 miles(30.6 Km) from their final destination of the River Kwai. Upon arrival to the river at night all hosts are relieved with finally being there but not without complaint only to be reminded that the Allied POW's walked the trip and had it nowhere as hard. Then it is brought to their attention that bridge construction began at 0500 the next morning and they would not be able to leave until it had been completed with all three lorries having driven onto the other side.

Now it was time to start making their bridge, Clarkson playing his self-entitled role as officer in reference to Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness) has refused to help, May the engineer of the project set out creating schematics and blueprints for structural design and Hammond all round handy man worked on collecting materials in order to start off the plan. Throughout construction they fall upon the classic path of shenanigans causing their efforts to self-destruct and ultimately harm their progress rather than further it. Although some things went awry the team managed to get 2/3 of the way across with the help of hired locals, heavy duty rental equipment and a few DIY tools but their next discovery would detrimental to their goal. Clarkson after consulting the map has noticed that they've not actually been building a bridge over the River Kwai. "Top Gear is building a bridge over the River Kok". It is decided that it's a simple blunder, sounds more interesting and they're already 2/3 of the way finished. Tired and desperate to go home the trio pressed onward with their bridge. On the 15th day at the river the bridge was completed, the team cuts their Union Jack themed celebratory ribbons and May draws the short straw of going across it first. In the nervous first attempt the bridge holds true as both May and Clarkson cross it to the other side but Hammond's oversized modded lorry finds it more difficult to make it. Along the way to land on the side where May and Clarkson currently the top of his truck clips the beams above causing minor damage but overall successfully crossing their make-shift bridge over the River Kok.

Production
Production taking place in Burma meant the BBC had to get in contact with local authorities and production organisations. For their international support they contracted Asia Film Fixers' founder Terry Gordon to provide production support, location management and overall fixings for the Series 21 special. With support from local partners - Khiri Travel - the special's pre-production required a convoy of 16 vehicles and took a crew of 40 a period of two and a half months.

Post-Production
Correspondence between a Reddit user and the trio has revealed further about happenings after production -

"Hi,

Thanks for this. You are correct and they did stay with us. Indeed I found the location for them and we organised all the logistics. Unfortunately, the bridge was then taken down after the filming even though we asked for it to remain in place as it was an excellent facility for the local people. The bridge was not built over the Kok, but over the Fang River which flows into the Kok, for a number of reasons.

Best wishes."

Criticism
Top Gear: Burma Special in series 21 of motoring programme Top Gear has faced controversy for a word used by one of their presenters. Jeremy Clarkson found himself under criticism for his statement in part two of the special where a segment showing the hosts looking at the bridge they had built on the River Kwai as a local man walked across it.

Clarkson remarked: "That is a proud moment. But there's a slope on it."

After viewer complaint were being received Ofcom investigated the matter and found the word "slope" to be offensive. Top Gear producer Andy Wilman explained that there was no malicious intent in Clarkson's comment. Wilman response to their criticism "When we used the word slope in the recent Top Gear Burma Special it was a light-hearted word play joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing it.

"We were not aware at the time, and it has subsequently been brought to our attention, that the word slope is considered by some to be offensive and although it might not be widely recognised in the UK, we appreciate that it can be considered offensive to some here and overseas, for example in Australia and the USA.

"If we had known that at the time we would not have broadcast the word in this context and regret any offence caused."

External links section
https://www.topgearbox.com/cars/entertainment/top-gear/challenges/top-gear-series-21-episode-6/

https://topgear.fandom.com/wiki/Specials

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3576666/?ref_=ttep_ep6

https://topgear.fandom.com/wiki/Burma_Special

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai-film-by-Lean

http://www.asiafilmfixers.com/project/top-gear-myanmar/

https://www.impulsegamer.com/top-gear-the-burma-special-dvd-review/

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/23/top-gear-racist-burma-special-_n_5197001.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEzTl4bmVbjw3kQt1HfCy0E51dgzSPfX3hictDjh21nPuKDo5mIAn7uoG2QXTE_XFoiX4uz3jObObQSOsjl0h02QdksUveMUmeFTm34mle4q8LC0JWyzPh3BGGWFAcM8b3ol2mb7rLXf39-3wJP-jY3TsT1WBoftlbGvBIFFAV-o

https://www.calculateme.com/length/miles/to-kilometers/80

https://www.grandtournation.com/topgear/what-ever-happened-to-top-gears-bridge-from-the-burma-special/