Top Gear returned to television with a trip to central Asia and a Hollywood star to kick off its new series.

The BBC Two motoring show hit the screens on Sunday night with former Friends star Matt LeBlanc in the driving seat and Chris Harris and Rory Reid joining him as co-hosts, following the departure of Chris Evans.

The last series was savaged on social media, with much of the criticism levelled at Evans’s hosting style, and many wondered whether Top Gear had many miles left in the tank.

But Sunday’s instalment, which featured a trip to Kazakhstan and an interview with Scottish actor James McAvoy, fared much better, with viewers saying on social media that it was a “massive improvement” and it had made “a promising start”.“Top Gear is back how it should be!” enthused one viewer on Twitter.

LeBlanc, 49, was called “a natural” as a presenter and several people said the programme was better without Evans, who quit after the last series saying he gave it his best shot but that it was “not enough”.

One person wrote: “5 Seconds in and new #TopGear without Chris Evans looks 9,999,999 times better already.”