The Grand Tour

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The Grand Tour is a motoring show on Amazon Prime featuring ex-Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. The show's executive producer, Andy Wilman, also moved from Top Gear to work on the new show, alongside many other members of the cast and crew including directors Richard Porter, Brian Klein and Phil Churchward.

The Grand Tour was officially announced on the 30th of July, 2015 as "Untitled Car Show", after months of speculation, by the online streaming service Amazon Prime. The Name "The Grand Tour" wasn't announced till May 2016. An official trailer for the series was released fifteen months later, on the 7th of October 2016.

It was revealed that the trio had signed on for thirty-six episodes over three series of the show, although thirty-eight would eventually air during this contract, including two double-part specials. The first episode of the show premiered on the 18th of November, 2016. The show's second series premiered on the 8th of December, 2017. The show's third series premiered on the 18th January 2019. On the 15th of December, 2018, the show was officially renewed for a fourth series which premiered on the 13th of December, 2019.

As part of the show's renewal, it was revealed that the show would no longer film any studio segments, bringing an end to the studio-centric style of show that Clarkson, Hammond, and May had been working on together for seventeen years. The show's fourth season, the first to be produced under this new arrangement, began airing in 2019.

It was reported on November 30, 2023 that Clarkson, Hammond and May will depart The Grand Tour in 2024 to work on personal projects and leave automotive TV completely. This statement ruled out a return to Top Gear after the BBC canceled it. However, The Grand Tour may continue with new presenters.

Production

The show's first episode sees the presenters kick off with a festival in the California desert

The show officially began filming its first series on the 7th of October, 2015 when Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond published pictures from their first shoot in Portugal. The first set of studio segments for the show were filmed in July, 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The show has since filmed in the US, the Netherlands, England, Finland, Germany, Scotland, and the United Arab Emirates.

Announcement

Amazon announced that they had signed Clarkson, Hammond, and May for 36 episodes of a new show on the 30th of July, 2015. The show was left untitled for many months with promotional videos being released focusing on the presenters' struggle to come up with a name. However, on the 12th of May, 2016, the name was finally revealed to be 'The Grand Tour', reflecting the worldwide nature of the show. More details about the show were also revealed, most notably that the show's format would closely mimic that of Top Gear, featuring studio segments that were to be recorded in a tent that changes locations in almost every episode.

Incidents

In filming for series 2, Richard Hammond was involved in two separate accidents. The first occurred in Mozambique, where Hammond was knocked unconscious after falling off a motorcycle. The second more serious incident occurred in Switzerland while filming the series 2 premiere. Hammond crashed a Rimac Concept car while competing in a hill-climb event. The car subsequently caught fire and was completely destroyed. Hammond, meanwhile, was hospitalised with a fractured knee. The accident, coupled with Clarkson's pneumonia diagnosis, delayed the second series premiere from October to December.

In filming for series 4, the crew were forced to evacuate in Vietnam after monsoonal rains flooded the boats of the production crew. In filming for series 5, James May was involved in a deadly crash in Norway.

Seasons

**For a list of episodes, see here**

Series 1

The first series of The Grand Tour aired from 18th of November, 2016 to the 3rd of February, 2017. The first series featured thirteen episodes, which saw the presenters journeying to Namibia in Beach Buggies for the show's first special, to Portugal for a test of the 'holy trinity' of hypercars, heading across Morocco in three roadsters, attempting to build an artificial reef using old cars in Barbados, and more.

Series 2

The second series of The Grand Tour aired from the 8th of December, 2017 to the 16th of February, 2018. The second series featured eleven episodes, which saw saw the presenters testing three supercars in Switzerland, journeying across Mozambique to feed the poor, racing three old Jaguars in Colorado, building an amphibious car, and more.

Series 3

The third series of The Grand Tour aired from the 18th of January, 2019 to the 12th of April, 2019. The third series featured fourteen episodes, which saw the presenters heading to Scotland in three old Italian Cars, visiting Colombia in used 4x4s, driving three Muscle Cars in Detroit, building and driving a car across Mongolia, and more.

Series 4

The fourth series of The Grand Tour launched it's first special on the 13th of December, 2019, with the second airing on the 17th of December, 2020, the third on the 30th of July, 2021 before the series final special concluded on the 18th of December, 2021. Throughout the four specials where the trio have visited Vietnam and Cambodia using Boats and Madagascar and Reunion Island using Modified Cars. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, they had to film specials in and around the UK, with the first in Scotland involving a huge array of American Cars and the second between Wales and England involving the theme of French Cars.

Series 5

The fifth series of The Grand Tour launched it's first special on the 16th of September, 2022, with the second airing on the 16th of June, 2023, the third due to be scheduled on the 16th of Feburary, 2024 before the last ever Clarkson, Hammmond and May production will be aired in mid-late 2024. The series featured a range of specials across Scandinavia (originally Russia) using Rally Inspired Saloons, Eastern Europe using cars no-one's thought of, the Sahara Region in Modified Exotic GT Cars and Zimbabwe in classic 70s cars. This will be the last series of the Grand Tour and the subsequent last series done by Clarkson, Hammond and May.

Segments

Conversation Street

A still from episode 1's Conversation Street

In this segment, usually around 10 to 20 minutes into the show and lasting 5 to 10 minutes, the presenters often discuss the motoring news/topics and the recent events. The segment is always introduced by Richard Hammond and is accompanied by a 10 second title which features black silhouettes of the presenters against a white background. The title screen varies from episode-to-episode; for example, the title screens have, in the past, featured Clarkson in high-heels, Hammond with a bird on his arm, and the presenters with sombreros.

Celebrity Segments

For each series a new celebrity segment would be introduced however, they proved to not last long. Series 1 featured Celebrity Brain Crash, which was replaced in series 2 with Celebrity Face Off.

Celebrity Brain Crash (Season 1)

In this segment, usually around 30 to 40 minutes into the show and lasting from one to five minutes. The presenters introduce a celebrity to arrive into the tent for an interview. The celebrity always begins outside of the tent and mostly were 'killed' before they enter the tent. Guests on Celebrity Brain Crash have included Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Charlize Theron, and Armie Hammer. The segment always ends with James asking, "So, does that mean he/she/they isn't/aren't coming on then?" then Richard implies.

Celebrity Face Off (Season 2)

In series 2, Celebrity Face Off was introduced. In the segment, two celebrities had their similarities. It is interviewed by Clarkson before competing against each other in a timed lap around a circuit located near the studio tent to determine whosever had their fastest lap. Participants use a Jaguar F-Type to complete their laps. The guests include Dominic Cooper, David Hasselhoff, Hugh Bonneville, Kiefer Sutherland, Paris Hilton, and more. Most said celebrities lapped with the automatic gearbox with other also use the flappy-paddles.

The Eboladrome

The Grand Tour's test track, which is the venue for most car reviews and the track around which lap times are completed, is nicknamed the Eboladrome, for it's resemblance to the Ebola virus. The track is located in Wroughton, at an used British Royal Air Force base.[1] The track is not used for the show's Celebrity Face Off segment.

The track features prominent landmarks, such as Old Lady's House (which has an unexploded WW-II bomb right next to it), the Isn't Straight, Substation,Your Name Here, and Field of Sheep.

Lap Times

After reviews have finished, The Grand Tour team put their cars around the Eboladrome, their official test track, to see which can achieve the fastest lap time. In series 1, each lap time was completed by The American, a fictionalised version of retired NASCAR driver Mike Skinner (dubbed as the American). In series 2, however, Skinner was replaced by British racing driver Abbie Eaton.

Locations

The following is a list of locations in which The Grand Tour has filmed for Series 1:

• Southern California, USA
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Nashville, USA
• Stuttgart, Germany
• Rotterdam, Netherlands
• Lapland, Finland
• Loch Ness, Scotland
• Whitby, England
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates

From Series 2 to Series 3, only one location was used:

• The Cotswolds, United Kingdom

Following the conclusion of the third series, the shows will no longer feature a studio in any capacity, instead taking place entirely on filming location.

Format Change (Series 4 - 5)

From the fourth series until it's final series, the show's well established format was majorly overhauled. The format, of studio segments interlinking pre-produced films, had been a staple of The Grand Tour's first three series and of Clarkson, Hammond, and May's work on the first twenty two seasons of the revived Top Gear.

Thee are the major changes, includes:

Studio Links

For the duration of Clarkson, Hammond, and May's tenure on the revived Top Gear and The Grand Tour, a studio had been used as a way to link between various pre-produced films. From The Grand Tour's fourth season, this studio link was completely eliminated.

Standalone Segments

As a consequence of the abolition of the studio links, the trio's regular standalone segments were removed. This included the power laps around both Top Gear's original test track in Dunsfold and The Grand Tour's eboladrome, and the various celebrity-related segments, including Top Gear's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car and The Grand Tour's Celebrity Brain Crash and Celebrity Face Off. Altogether we're dropped.

Special Episodes

The removal of both the studio links and the standalone segments were a consequence of the larger transition of the show away from smaller films contained within individual episodes towards larger-scale episode-long films, more commonly referred to as specials.

Airing

The weekly episode had been officially scraped in-favour of the specials usually by one or two episodes per year, these said specials now aired at random at various times in the said year.

Gallery

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