9 Times Top Gear Crossed The Line

7. The Lorry Driver Jokes

As if the "comic depiction" of suicide wasn't controversial enough, Clarkson later decided that Top Gear needed more jokes about murder as well. Sitting at the wheel of a Heavy Goods Vehicle, he offered his thoughts on the stress of being a lorry driver. "It's a hard job," he confessed, "Change gear, change gear, change gear, check your mirrors, murder a prostitute, change gear, change gear, murder, check your mirrors... that's a lot of effort in a day!" The comments were supposedly in reference to either the 2006 Ipswich serial murders or the Yorkshire Ripper. Whatever it was aimed at, it led to over 500 complainants, among them Labour MP Chris Mole, who called for Clarkson to be sacked. Ofcom, however, saw little fault with what was said, and allowed the incident to slip by without consequence. Jeremy may have learned his lesson, however, as he was slightly more careful with his words in a later HGV special filmed in Burma.