Studio Lambert, the company behind hit shows such as ‘Gogglebox’ and ‘The Traitors’, has secured rights to develop a new version of Prime Video’s hit motoring show ‘The Grand Tour‘.
The news of this new iteration of the high-rated series comes after the original presenting trio of Clarkson, Hammond, and May announced last November that they were “done” with the format and had filmed their final episodes, saying it had “come to its natural end.”
The 63-year-old Clarkson later expanded on that, commenting that the outlandish treks had become more challenging when “you’re unfit and fat and old”. After 34 years of car adventures together, they were also struggling to come up with new ideas. “I’ve driven cars higher than anyone else and further north than anyone else,” he continued. “We’ve done everything you can do with a car. When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.”
Whilst the original trio had decided they didn’t want to continue, Clarkson, Hammond, and May gave Amazon their blessing to explore continuing the series with new presenters. ‘The Grand Tour’ is still a massive hit for the streaming service, so it isn’t a huge surprise they would look at ways to reinvent it. This resulted in Amazon asking a number of UK production companies to pitch ideas for the brand, and it seems Studio Lambert is the one that has landed the gig.
As for who the new presenters might be is anyone’s guess. Interestingly, Clarkson, Hammond, and May leaving ‘The Grand Tour’ was revealed in the same week the BBC announced they were “resting” the trio’s former show ‘Top Gear’, following a near-fatal crash with presenter Freddie Flintoff. Whilst it’s very unlikely Flintoff would want to get involved in another car show, fellow presenters Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris may be tempted. However, Paddy has now taken a new gig as Sunday morning host on Radio 2, and both McGuinness and Harris are rumoured to have a new travelogue show for the BBC which would see the duo travelling around Europe.
If Amazon were to look at other previous ‘Top Gear’ presenters, there have a number of international iterations over the years, and Prime Video is an international brand, so there is no reason the new presenters need to come from the UK. We also don’t know what format Studio Lambert are considering for this new version. Whether it would be the “road trip” format of the later seasons, or more of the “studio” format of the earlier ones. We will have to wait and see.
We should stress, as of right now, this new version of ‘The Grand Tour’ is classed as “in development”, so it is entirely possible Amazon decides not to move forward with it. We’ll let you know if and when we hear more.
