Much like any file transfer protocol, there are plenty of legitimate and illegitimate activities using torrents. Outside the uses already discussed, I've heard of a major university in the EU using torrents to speed up patch distribution across their large network. Instead of 20 dedicated servers, they reduced it to 2, and used a small bit of disk space on every client to push updates at night. Blizzard also uses torrents for the distribution of World of Warcraft, as well as their classic games downloaded from their store. Torrenting for them allows the load balancing to happen automatically to all their various CDN systems.
And Tony, Top Gear is now on the iTunes store. Season 13 isn't there yet, but I hope they do start putting the shows up soon after the UK air date. It's something I'd gladly pay for via the iTunes season pass.