A date has been set for Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s final The Grand Tour road trip. The trio will head to Zimbabwe in Africa before going their separate ways, following reports that the presenters approved the dissolution of W Chump and Sons, which produces the series, with government agency Companies House, thus bringing an end to the programme.
According to the synopsis, Clarkson, Hammond and May will take “three cars they’ve always wanted to own” to southern Africa. Driving a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag, the long-term friends will head off on “a stunning road trip through beautiful and sometimes challenging landscapes leading to an emotional ending on a strangely familiar island”.
The end of The Grand Tour comes amid Clarkson’s huge success with his solo programme Clarkson’s Farm, which sees the presenter attempt to run the 1000-acre farm he purchased in 2008.
Clarkson and Hammond hosted Top Gear’s first series in 2002 alongside Jason Dawe, with May replacing the latter in series two. The trio’s chemistry is one of the main reasons that the show became such a success, and they remained as presenters until Clarkson was dropped in 2015 following a behind-the-scenes incident. Hammond and May followed suit and also exited the programme in a show of support for Clarkson. Together, they created The Grand Tour, which premiered in 2016.
The Grand Tour's Emotional Farewell: A 'Weepy' Goodbye After 22 Years
The final episode of The Grand Tour will be “quite weepy” as Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Richard May part ways after 22 years. Amazon Prime Video’s special, One for the Road, will be available to stream from September 13 and will feature the trio driving across Zimbabwe in cars they have always wanted to own: a Lancia Montecarlo, a three-litre Ford Capri and a Triumph Stag. The episode will conclude with an emotional farewell on Botswana’s Kubu Island, the location of the first Top Gear special, broadcast by the BBC in 2007. Clarkson deemed the island “just about the most astonishing place I’ve ever been”.
Andy Wilman, the executive producer responsible for both motoring shows, said the team wanted to “leave the dynamite at home” for their swansong. Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, he said: “It was quite a no-brainer in the office that this one was about the guys saying goodbye to each other. They wanted to go unplugged, take things back to 2005 or 2006 and leave the dynamite at home.
“Anybody who thinks they’re going to get Avengers Endgame is going to be disappointed because it is deliberately gentle, but their camaraderie is next level. You can see that they know it’s the last time they will do this together.”
Wilman warned that a teaser trailer “tugs on the heartstrings” by featuring silent shots of the presenters laughing and joking together during filming to the backdrop of The Hollies’ hit single He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.
“They say goodbye better than any presenters could. Because they are so close as people they can take the piss out of their own goodbye but then be emotional as well,” he said. “It is quite weepy. But they are an institution, part of the furniture, and it’s great that they are allowed a soppy goodbye.”
He added that they had chosen to drive older cars because they offered richer stories and “more laughs” than the latest models. Wilman claimed that after Clarkson was sacked from Top Gear for punching a producer in 2015, there was a “tussle” with the BBC. He said that Alan Yentob, the corporation’s creative director at the time, made a “big move” to hold on to Hammond and May to break up the trio.
Instead, Amazon’s chequebook helped to woo the trio to the US streamer, while spurning a rival bid from ITV. Wilman said: “Amazon asked us to make a show that was as legally close to Top Gear as possible that was oven-ready to be broadcast around the world without them getting sued.”
The End of an Era: The Grand Tour's Final Ride
The Grand Tour has run for five series since 2016, with the trio wanting to leave “on their own terms”. Its end allows Clarkson and Wilman to focus on the documentary series Clarkson’s Farm, which will return to Amazon Prime Video for a fourth series next year. It is expected to follow the presenter’s exploits after he buys a pub near his farm, which is due to reopen as The Farmer’s Dog on Friday.
Wilman said that the pair were initially “petrified” that Clarkson’s Farm would fail after Amazon agreed to commission it as part of a wider deal with The Grand Tour presenters. He said: “We were so nervous when we first made the show that it could be really boring, because there was no jeopardy.
“But it has this very charming, innocent Darling Buds of May thing going on. It revolves around small stories, which suits Jeremy because we don’t have that Top Gear-like pressure to blow stuff up to get noticed.”
The Grand Tour: One For the Road: A Final Farewell
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are set to hit the road one more time as they travel across Zimbabwe. After five seasons spread over almost eight years, The Grand Tour is wrapping up with its final episode next month.
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are set to hit the road one more time as they travel across Zimbabwe in a special aptly titled One For The Road, and it sounds like there could be a few moving moments along the way.
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, executive producer Andy Wilman described the episode as “weepy” and “emotional”, but warned fans they shouldn't necessarily expect an especially epic end to the show.
“Not much happens, I would say,” he explained. “Anyone who thinks they’re going to get Avengers: Endgame is going to be disappointed because it is deliberately gentle. But their camaraderie is next level.”
He added: “They say goodbye better than any presenters could ever say goodbye, because they’re so close. They can take the p**s out of one another and then be emotional as well. It’s quite weepy.”
Prime Video released a first look at the episode earlier this week, with a touching teaser closing with Clarkson saying: “So, for the last time - here we go.”
Three new images were also released to tease the new episode, showing the trio in Zimbabwe, laughing together, stood with their cars and sat around at a campsite.
A full synopsis for the episode reads: “In their last adventure, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May ignore the instructions of Mr Wilman and head to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own, a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag, for a stunning road trip through beautiful and sometimes challenging landscapes leading to an emotional ending on a strangely familiar island.”
Of course, while they have been appearing together on The Grand Tour for the last eight years, the presenters' time sharing the screen goes back much further to their long stint on Top Gear, which they hosted as a trio between 2003 and 2015.
“When we had meetings about what to do next, people just threw their arms in the air.”
The Grand Tour: One for the Road will launch globally on Friday 13th September on Prime Video.
