Top Gear is back and about to undertake the most important test-drive of its existence. The first week's guest is James McAvoy who gets a tour of a new electric car with Rory Reid.
The devotion to the classic Clarkson formula, though, is so overwhelming that this tribute show version of Top Gear can still attract decent guests (James McAvoy).
On the basis of this first episode, and with the caveat that all such things need time to bed in and gel together, the smaller, lighter Top Gear may just have snuck ahead of the bloated Grand Tour.
The weak link of 2016 has gone in the shape of Chris Evans, and the best three presenters have been elevated to an equal status: Chris Harris, Rory Reid and Matt LeBlanc. And it's worked wonders.
With Evans in charge, Top Gear had sweated panic from every nozzle. Here, in contrast, the laid-back spirit of LeBlanc's Friends character Joey Tribbiani held sway.
