Former Top Gear hosts name new Amazon show The Grand Tour
Series starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May to premiere in the fall
Top Gear's original trio — Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May — announced Wednesday that they are developing a new show that will be called The Grand Tour.
Their comments on its christening were characteristically deadpan.
"Thing is," said Clarkson, "we'll be travelling the world hosting each episode in a different country, from a giant tent. It's a sort of 'grand tour,' if you like. So we've decided to call it The Grand Tour."
"I wanted to call it Nigel or Roger," quipped May. "We needed a name, and they're names."
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The new program, which will launch in the fall on Amazon Prime's streaming video service, "will feature short films shot in different locations around the globe," according to a release, with studio audience segments filmed on location as well, inside a giant tent.
A video on the show's new Facebook page plays up the nine-month brainstorming process that ultimately led to the name The Grand Tour.
So, the Grand Tour (GT for short) will come from a tent, which we will put up in a different location every week. Your town?
—@JeremyClarksonI still think 'Nigel' was a better name.<a href="https://t.co/nIlrOaosXF">https://t.co/nIlrOaosXF</a>
—@MrJamesMay...Best of all, we've got a MASSIVE tent as our studio. Same tent, different view, different crowd every week on our Grand Tour.
—@RichardHammondThe BBC fired Clarkson from Top Gear — which set a record in 2012 as the world's most widely watched factual TV program — in March 2015 after he punched a producer in an off-set altercation. May and Hammond left shortly thereafter, along with Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman, who is also producing The Grand Tour.