If last night’s TGTV polar special didn’t have you hunting the web for a time machine to make the new series in October come quicker, well, we can only assume you were watching the Big Leather Bag Marathon on the Shoppers Channel by mistake.

ere you daft enough to miss it, then don’t worry: the entire episode is repeated this Sunday at 8pm on BBC2. But the action doesn’t stop when the credits roll. We’ve got a whole host more information on the biggest, most dangerous, coldest challenge the TG boys have ever taken on.

Read Andy Wilman’s blog on making the polar special…
and make sure you tell him what you thought of the show

Watch three exclusive clips from the episode…
including James and the bumper dumper

Check out our close-up gallery of the invincible Hilux…
nd find out how the Toyota managed to survive the Arctic

arlier this week, we talked to James about his harrowing polar experience. «Don’t imagine that we were nice and warm in the car,» James told us. «We weren’t allowed to have the heating on because it would interfere with our special misery-spec Arctic on-board cameras.»

n fact, it doesn’t sound like James had much fun. «I didn’t actually want to go at all,» he says. «I hate snow, I hate extreme cold, I hate dressing up and I knew it would involve quite a lot of camping, since there are no hotels around there.»

espite the risks of being eaten by polar bears — the Arctic is home to 80 per cent of the world’s population, and apparently pasty British TV presenters taste almost identical to seal — it was the camping that proved the most traumatic for James.

I hardly dare remind myself of the camping,» he says. «The real problem was having to share a tent with Clarkson, who was incapable of helping to put the thing up. I’m not a great camper but Clarkson is a worse one.»

n-tent hostilities were just the, erm, tip of the iceberg. Countless hours behind the wheel of the Hilux with nothing but ice for scenery took their toll on Jeremy and James’s relationship.

After a few days we were arguing for hours about the significance of just-in-time manufacturing versus the importance of interchangeability of parts,» says James. «By day four we had been reduced to food fantasies involving sandwich spread and sausages.»

If you saw the show, you’ll know that food caused, ahem, an explosive interchange between James and Jeremy. If you didn’t, we’re giving nothing away — you can watch it again this Sunday. No excuses if you miss it this time.

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