A Top Gear special in India was "offensive" and full of "toilet humour", the High Commission of India (HCI) in London has complained.

The 28 December special featured jokes about food and trains and a Jaguar car fitted with a toilet seat on its boot.

The diplomat cited an "offensive" banner placed on the side of a train - reading "British IT is good for your company" - which read quite differently when the carriages were parted.

And he also criticised a scene in the programme which showed Clarkson taking off his trousers at a party to demonstrate how to use a trouser press.

21 July 2011
Letter from Chris Hale, producer, Top Gear to Indian High Commission, London

“Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May will travel across India in three cars filming a light hearted road trip focusing on the journey and the inevitable idiosynacies of the cars they will drive, as well as the country and scenary we see along the way.

“There will be spontaneous interaction between the presenters and their environment, and potentially people they meet along the way. This will be in an incidental manner, not interviews.

“Key ingredients of what we film will be beautiful scenery, busy city scenes, local charm and colour within these locations, areas to illustrate the local car culture that exists in India.”

6 January 2012
Letter from Indian High Commission, London to Chris Hale, producer, Top Gear

cc Mark Thompson, director general, BBC

“The programme was replete with cheap jibes, tasteless humour and lacked cultural sensitivity. This is not clearly what we expect of the BBC. I write this to convey our deep disappointment over the documentary for its content and the tone of the presentation.

“You are clearly in breach of the agreement that you had entered into, completely negating our constructive and proactive facilitation. We strongly protest and expect the BBC to make amends, especially to assuage the hurt sentiments of a large number of people.”

“The programme was replete with cheap jibes, tasteless humour and lacked cultural sensitivity.

Conservative MP Gordon Henderson said he would personally show the presenter the other sights Sheppey had to offer. Publishers BBC Worldwide said the comments were “tongue-in-cheek”.

How long will it be before people just realise the Top Gear is basically Viz TV but without the fat Slags? Once you realise that you are effectively watching a politically incorrect version of The Three Stooges, you become immune to Top Gear’s idiocy.

Thing is, by complaining, they're falling straight into the trap of attracting even more media attention.

It's like the last Clarkson comment - media furore for a couple of days, then something else crops up and it all goes quite.