Richard Hammond and James May have 'traumatising' moment as they make surprise return to Top Gear studio
Top Gear fans have been left all nostalgic after Richard Hammond and James May returned to the place they used to call home for so many years.
Minus frontman Jeremy Clarkson, two of the trio headed back to the old Top Gear headquarters, including the studio hanger where they would film the episodes, as well as the green room around the corner from it, where the crew would work on scripts and perfect the show before it aired.
Unless you're a very young member of the Gen Z brigade, you should be aware of just how epic Sunday nights were when Clarkson, May, and Hammond took to our screens on the BBC between 2002 and 2015.
Taking what was a very good yet ordinary car show that had been running since 1977, under that trio of car enthusiasts, Top Gear turned into a global phenomenon and embedded itself at the forefront of 2000s British pop culture.
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But the empire came crashing down in 2015, when May and Hammond quit the show after Clarkson's contract with the Beeb wasn't renewed due to after an 'unprovoked physical attack' on a Top Gear producer.
The three moved to Amazon Prime Video and carried on their schtick under the new guise of The Grand Tour, which came to an emotional end in 2024.
Since then, the trio have officially parted ways professionally. But it's not stopping them from meeting up in their own time, given they're still mates off screen.
Now, in a clip shared to the James May's Planet Gin YouTube channel, May and Hammond were seen rocking up to the old Top Gear set at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome in Surrey.
"I feel funny, I feel really odd being here," Hammond said, with both of them confirming it was the first time back on set since their last day in 2015.
Walking around the green room after accidentally locking themselves out of the building, Hammond said 'it never seemed glamorous' back then and definitely didn't now with the building somewhat dilapidated. After finally finding a door inside, they said 'it smells the same... terrible'.
"I feel both 10 years old and 110 years old," Hammond said. "It's that sense of I feel like a little boy but an old man... bloody hell.
"Every week we'd come here for years and years and years."
Venturing through the green room some more, the duo came across The Stig's own dressing room.
"The Stig had his own room because nobody could know who he was so he would he would smuggle himself in here and change and dress," Hammond explained.
They also found the spot where they would put all their TV awards in a glass cabinet.
Fans were feeling the nostalgic in the comment section of the YouTube video.
One wrote: "The best show that the BBC has ever lost. I will not change my mind on that."
Another quoted Hammond saying 'this was a massive part of our lives', adding: "Richard... don't realise how much of a massive part of all our lives it was too."
And a third posted: "Nostalgia is a weird mix of happiness that it happened, and sadness that it will never be the same again."
Topics: BBC, Cars, Celebrity, Entertainment, James May, Jeremy Clarkson, Nostalgia, Richard Hammond, TV, The Grand Tour, Top Gear, UK News, YouTube
Tom Earnshaw