We finally have a launch date for The Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson’s Amazon Top Gear wannabe
After what feels like aeons of hype, Amazon has finally confirmed a launch date for The Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson's Top Gear-alike car show.
The company said today the series, which also features Clarkson's Top Gear chums James May and Richard Hammond, will launch on 18 November on Amazon Prime Video, with new episodes released on a weekly basis for 12 weeks.
According to Amazon, the first episode will feature the trio in a studio tent, which has followed them to locations including Johannesburg and California, plus other "exciting locations across the globe", finding studio audiences wherever they go.
And fans of awkward scripted banter will be delighted to learn Clarkson, May and Hammond have committed to three series of the show as part of a "landmark global TV deal". We can barely contain our excitement.
Read more: Flop Gear? The viewing figures for the new Top Gear are in
"Dad! You're so embarrassing!" (Source: Amazon)
Last year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said the show was "very, very, very expensive" because the three stars were "worth a lot and they know it".
In an interview with The Telegraph, he added that The Grand Tour "can't just be one show, it has to be a number of things".
"I think we’re in a golden age of television, so if you go back in time even just five years, you couldn’t get A-list talent to do TV serials, or, if you could, it was a rare thing. But that’s flipped completely.
“The investment is very high now in serialised TV, and the amount of time you have to tell a story is much greater. That format change opens up a lot of storytelling possibilities, which, when mixed with the movie-like production standards, and the A-list talent, is why we’re seeing amazing television."
Still, Clarkson seems to be doing some work to justify that fee: he's also helped Amazon promote its drone delivery service, which delivers packages of up to 5lbs in 30 minutes or less. Here's his star turn: