There’s no doubt that Clarkson is one of the best motoring journalists on the planet and it’s in this expertise and not his increasingly flabby prejudices that his true wit lies. The producers obviously think we need some more of the latter, however.

Time to gingerly crack open the shed door and see what they’re up to in there. Nothing of great note is the answer, at least in the opening episode, which takes the barnacled bros to Detroit to mess about in muscle cars. As always, it’s lushly filmed, with a fine eye for a startling location.