Motoring fans have often seen the type of car used in a high-speed chase as a key part of the classic police drama and it’s something that has really boosted the popularity of certain models over the years. 

Now, Top Gear has asked 1,000 British adults to rank their most iconic TV cop cars from their favourite programmes over the years. 

Top of the charts was the Jaguar Mark 2, used by Morse in the famous TV series Inspector Morse, closely followed by Gene Hunt’s Audi Quattro, which has become immortalised by its appearance in Ashes to Ashes over the years. 

In third place was the Ferrari 308 GTS used by Thomas Magnum in Magnum PI, followed by Ray Doyle’s Ford Capris used in The Professionals. Rounding off the top five was the Ford Gran Torino cop car, used by Dave Starsky in the hit ‘70s American TV action series Starsky and Hutch.

 

The survey comes out ahead of this Sunday’s episode of Top Gear, which ‘celebrates an era when telly police cars were as famous and recognisable as the actors who drove them’. 

Alex Renton, executive producer of Top Gear, said: “It’s fantastic to see the Jaguar Mark 2 claim top spot in the poll for the nation’s favourite TV cop car. A true British classic that was a genius bit of casting which told you so much about Morse as a character. We were delighted to have the actual Jaguar Mark 2 from the show out on the track and to see the joy it brought to Chris Harris behind the wheel who is a Morse fanatic.”  

Top Gear is on BBC One this Sunday at 8PM.