Grand Tour u-turn sees Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond return for reboot
Grand Tour fans rejoice! The iconic trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond aren't leaving the show just yet.
After six series of Amazon Prime's Grand Tour, the original Top Gear trio were set to depart the show with three new hosts taking over the driving seat when the seventh series drops on September 4.
Petrol head YouTube tandem Thomas Holland and James Engelsman are being joined by everybody's favourite steam train aficionado Francis Bourgeois.
However, instead of being left to replace the beloved OG trifecta on their own, Clarkson, May and Hammond will remain in the show's production and will appear in cameos throughout the season.
Advert
'We do want to pass that baton on'
It's hoped that their continued presence will help make for a smoother transition for the new hosts and not derail the show, with Top Gear suffering in their absence and eventually stopping production in 2023.
Grand Tour co-creator and TV producer Andy Wilman told 3Bs Radio: “We’ve got three guys coming soon with a new Grand Tour and we’ve got behind them.
"We’re really supporting them.
“Our guys are in the shows doing cameos, so we’re wishing them well because we do want to pass that baton on.”
Wilman, who is also the executive producer of Clarkson's Farm, added: “When those three (original hosts) go away, you can’t parachute in three new, good presenters who are funny.
"That’s like describing the show over the phone to an alien — ‘you just need three funny blokes and they muck about’. It’s not going to work.”
Clarkson has already given his judgement on the new hosts
When Clarkson and his cohorts departed Top Gear in 2015, they were replaced with well-known UK celebrities Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness.
In contrast, the new trio this time around are relatively unknown to the wider public.
That's exactly what Clarkson wanted, as he believes it will serve them well as they build their own rapport and identity on the show.
"There’s no point hiring somebody who ‘likes’ cars. Because that’s not enough," Clarkson said before the new hosts were cast.
“I would get three complete unknowns. Start small, like we did. They’ve got to be absolute petrolheads.
“I’ve got to be able to show them a picture of a quarter of a door mirror from any car ever made, and they’ve got to know what it is.
“That would be my advice.”
In the most recent series of Clarkson's Farm, the 66-year-old revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Thankfully, in a further update on June 21, he said he was officially in remission.
In a video posted to social media, he said: "Hello everyone. Now the more observant amongst you would have noticed that I'm not dead, and I'm not just not dead, I'm perfectly fine. My eyebrows in particular are looking very lustrous.
“And the reason why I'm fine is because the doctor caught the prostate cancer early, and they caught it early because I got tested.”
Topics: Jeremy Clarkson, The Grand Tour, Amazon Prime, James May, Richard Hammond
Daniel Murphy