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After 12 years, Clarkson, Hammond and May have finally bowed out of Top Gear, one the UK's most popular TV shows.

The final Clarkson-era episode was cut together from two films made as part of the last series. But due to the now infamous 'fracas' between Clarkson and producer Oisin Tymon, the remainder of the series was cancelled.

This 75 minute piece shown on Sunday was obviously not created as the last-ever Top Gear episode with Clarkson and co. And yet there were some amusingly intuitive comments from Mr C: “I’m 54! Why am I doing this?” he said in his rickety 4x4.

And perhaps most smirk-inducing of all: “I hate working on Top Gear!”

But of course, neither Clarkson, Hammond nor May hated working on Top Gear. How could they?

But they’ll surely hate leaving.

The sombre links – recorded by Hammond and May after the series cancellation – were filmed in a spookily empty studio. But while the missing crowd was notable, it was the absence of Jeremy that made it all very strange.

In his place was a huge life-size replica elephant, lurking in the background.

The final episode was fast-paced and fun, but was perhaps nowhere near as raucous and big-budget as any pre-planned last-ever-Clarkson-finale would have been.

For the next truly eye-popping Top Gear spectaculars, we look to Chris Evans, who takes on the mantle of this, one of the BBC's biggest exports.

And with reports that the BBC has agreed a three-year, £3m contract with the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast show host, the corporation certainly believes it has a chance of keeping the Top Gear magic alive for another 12 years.