Starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Tiff Needell.

MPH, as I'm sure you're aware, was the original name for Top Gear Live back when it was a joint production between Brand Events and the presenters of BBC Two's Top Gear and Channel 5's Fifth Gear upon its inception in 2003, before it became a wholly Top Gear-themed show starting from 2007, rebranding as Top Gear Live the year after.

Some of you may already be familiar with this particular show due to it appearing as part of Series 7's Bonus Features in TGCC v2.0.

This is very, very different from that version of the show.

First of all, I went back to the original master project file I used. Then I re-cut it, re-edited it, and added some missing footage, such as the show's ending involving a Lotus Exige and a virtual attack helicopter. Before I documented the show structure of all MPH/Top Gear Live shows, I mistakenly believed this was actually the final 2 minutes of the 2004 show due to Lee's title, which wouldn't have made much sense, but I presumed that the rest of that show had been taken down in due time. I added this so now the 2005 show has an ending rather than cutting off when his camera runs out of battery.

I replaced the shaky camera shot of Clarkson being pied in the face by a protester with the original video, along with all other video clips I could get my hands on, such as the excerpts from Clarkson's Heaven and Hell. I also filtered the audio, and overdubbed the music tracks from higher bitrate sources so that they also sound cleaner.

Finally, I upscaled the whole thing to 720p using the latest version of Topaz (which I paid for via the generous donations I have thus far received) and cropped the whole thing to 16:9 thus hiding the majority of crowd shots, with some other clever crops here and there. It isn't perfect, I'll be the first to admit, as certain close-up face shots look particularly nightmarish, but for a third generation recording (Lee's camcorder, Lee's DVD recorder, YT's ancient 240p compression algorithm) along with hours of experimenting with the Proteus algorithm to find the best possible preset, I think Topaz has done an exceedingly good job and I couldn't ask for more. It definitely looks much more professional now. I did also try using Mercalli to stabilise the footage, but the resultant render noticeably lowered the quality, even at the max setting, and I'm not prepared to learn the programme further at this moment in time. As a result I manually "stabilised" the footage myself in Vegas, making sure the picture stayed as relatively still as possible with minimal cropping. There's definitely room for improvement, but not with the current level of hardware at my disposal.

All footage (barring some incidental filler shots) comes from a 13th November, 2005 performance held at the NEC in Birmingham. We know this because Clarkson makes a reference to the episode airing that night, for which he would have filmed studio segments mere days prior. Judging from how Clarkson also states that the audience will have to rush home if they want to catch Top Gear, it's most likely a 6:00 PM showing, although only 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM showings are documented for the NEC. Note that this isn't the "complete" show per se, as we are missing a small portion of footage leading up to the climax.

If you were at this show, took photos or better yet, video, or have anything else pertaining to rare Top Gear content, please contact me and let me know. At the moment, I can be reached at [email protected], though this will be replaced by a more professional address once the website goes up. If you would like to view the original, pre-upscaled version of this, or a lossless version of what I uploaded to YouTube, or even just the raw upscale, then become a supporter for £6 a month, as these are all Patron bonuses which I will not upload anywhere else (other than a future pack).

Once again, thanks very much to LEESVIDEOMOVIE for recording the majority of the show footage. Without him, we likely wouldn't have sufficient footage from the 2005, 2006 or 2007 events to make reconstructed amateur recordings from.

I cannot identify the song during the first car showcase around 22 minutes in. I am also unable to identify the song used during the Terry Grant stunt show performances, which are likely to be stock tracks. I also had to leave the version of Prokofiev's Knights used in the show untouched, as I cannot find a recording that's even remotely close to the length and composition. It seems to be the same version used as the theme for The Apprentice, but the official soundtrack released by the BBC uses a 5:42 version by André Previn that's slower and sounds nothing like the version used here.

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