Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours

The first destination is France as Jeremy Clarkson jumps into an E-Type Jag to start a five-part trip around Europe in search of the truth behind the age-old stereotypes the British have created for their European counterparts. After crossing the Channel, Clarkson attends a controversial dinner of banned foods and takes part in a yacht race that illustrates how Britain no longer rules the waves.

Clarkson tours the Low Countries, beginning with Belgium, where he discovers why the natives do not like being. Belgian and takes part in some of their unusual pastimes, including the World Pipe Smoking championships. Moving on to the Netherlands, he chats to prostitutes who tell him the brothel industry is drowning in red tape.

Clarkson arrives in Germany, where he receives humour lessons at a laughter clinic, introduces the locals to Blue Nun wine, enjoys the world's fastest taxi ride and checks into a hotel that recreates the grimness of Eastern Bloc life.

Humiliation looms when Jeremy Clarkson takes on Europe's oldest race, the Basques, at games of strength. Elsewhere in Spain, he gets splattered at a tomato festival, launches a one-man protest against EU subsidies, and - more seriously - witnesses the aftermath of a car-bombing.

The final leg of his 20,000-mile European odyssey sees Jeremy Clarkson perusing the conspicuous wealth of the French Riviera before enrolling at a Roman gladiator school, attending a beauty contest for women aged over 60, and meeting illegal immigrants desperate to get into Europe.