SO, to the moral question of the week, which is this – are the 189 days it took military and Ministry of Defence personnel to assist with the Top Gear stunts in the last five years a disgraceful waste of money and resources? Or are they a brilliant showcase for the excellent work being done by our armed forces, which have hauled in millions of pounds worth of free publicity?

The question was popped by the Press Association to the MoD in a Freedom of Information request.

It was referring to stunts like the tank chase that took place at Bovington, when large amounts of military hardware were used to pursue Jeremy Clarkson in a sports car.

Clarkson name-checked a variety of equipment, including Mastiffs, a Panther, a Jackal and a Trojan.

“It seems the Army are extremely good shots – to hit the car, often, without hitting me even slightly and even once, shows a level of skill that boggles the mind,” he declared.

The Bovington Chase has become a YouTube staple, along with the most famous Top Gear stunt of all – the Ford Fiesta road test in which the vehicle takes part in a full-fledged Royal Marines beach assault, a bit like the one which took place at Bournemouth Air Show this year and which I took part in as the imaginary hostage being freed by those fine figures of men.

From the FOI request we now know that stunt involved the equivalent of 63 days’ worth of time from the Marines and equipment, including Lynx helicopters and amphibious landing craft. At one point – as the car is ploughing bonnet-deep through the sea off the coast of Devon, Marines seated in the back yell out: “Are we there yet?” and Clarkson bellows: “The kids are being annoying. Shoot them!”

Meat and Carlsberg to Top Gear fans, especially as by this time, the 1812 Overture is ringing out, along with the guns and explosions.

But what about the cost? Especially, as some critics have pointed out, there aren’t enough helicopters in Afghanistan.

Over the past five years the MoD has loaned an Apache helicopter gunship to try and achieve a missile lock on a Lotus Exige sports car driven by Clarkson, a Challenger tank to chase a Range Rover and sniper fire for tests on a Porsche Boxster and Mercedes SLK.

In other packages the military’s biggest piece of hardware, HMS Ark Royal, was used as the backdrop to a film on the luxury Rolls Royce Phantom in 2007. In the same year an RAF Typhoon raced a Bugatti Veyron at RAF Coningsby airfield.

According to the MoD all this cost – nothing.

“The Top Gear filming took place during scheduled training hours,” said spokesman Jason Impey. “In no circumstances were resources diverted from other activities to support this filming.” He said it was common for the media to cover military training exercises.

“Showcasing our people and equipment on popular television programmes is an excellent way to raise public awareness about the work of the Armed Forces and to encourage support for our troops.”

Another MoD official has pointed out that if the military wanted to advertise on ITV, it would have cost it £50,000 for every 30 seconds.

It’s been claimed that the beach assault idea was suggested to Top Gear by Royal Marines who were based at Poole.

Military personnel are right behind Top Gear, with one soldier pointing out that if helping Top Gear was a problem: “In that case, we should also stop providing people and equipment to support local fetes and school open days.”

The truth is that whatever the cost, the fact Top Gear is seen around the world by 350 million people makes it what Jeremy Clarkson would describe as ‘probably the best showcase... in the world’.