The second episode in the new season of the BBC's "Top Gear" got a ratings boost on Sunday night, thanks in part to the appearance of Tom Hiddleston, better known as Loki, the villain/anti-hero of the Marvel films "The Avengers" and "Thor: The Dark World."
Hiddleston's was the guest for this week's installment of "Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car," and he had the bad luck to be racing a Vauxhall Astra Techline around the Top Gear track in the pouring rain.
Despite stalling the car right off the line on his first try, Hiddleston ran the lap in 1 minute, 49.9 seconds. That's faster than the time set a week earlier by Hugh Bonneville of "Downton Abbey" (also in the rain), and the same as Ron Howard, who didn't contend with wet weather.
According to The Mirror, this episode of Top Gear registered 5.5 million viewers, 200,000 more than last week's, the season premiere. The episode also featured Jeremy Clarkson driving on a Formula 1 circuit in the McLaren P1, a strong contender for best car on the planet. U.S. viewers can catch it on BBC America on Monday, February 17.
Here's the full video:
Top Gear: Guest - Tom Hiddleston from neverthesaint on Vimeo.
And some behind the scenes content from the show's blog: