Why The Grand Tour Having New Presenters Might Not Be A Bad Thing

A few months ago, when rumours first emerged that, despite the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, The Grand Tour might continue with new presenters and a revamped format, we ran a feature suggesting that it was about time the show was put out to pasture.

Well, now those rumours have been confirmed as true by Hammond, and – with all due respect to Matt Kimberley, author of that piece – I’m here to say it might not be a bad thing.

A quick browse through the Twitter replies to our own story on this revelation brings up exactly the sort of responses you’d expect: “Cos that worked so well for Top Gear,” “I will not be watching The Grand Tour any more,” or a nice, effective “Nooooooooo.” My question here is: why are people so quick to judge?

Clarkson, Hammond and May are an undeniably tough act to follow. The lightning in a bottle that was that trio when they were firing in all cylinders led to some of the most memorable TV of all time, automotive or otherwise. I grew up watching them, and I’m fully prepared for One For The Road to be an emotional goodbye.

And it’s not like we’ve not been here before. I gave every series of post-2015 Top Gear a shot, and I think that by the time the presenting lineup of Chris Harris, Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness had been established, it had settled into something genuinely enjoyable, and it’s sad it ended the way it did. I’ll be the first to admit, though, that that first Chris Evans-fronted series was almost unwatchable, salvaged only by Harris’ proper car reviews.

Still, ever the optimist, the way I saw things was that we’d gone from having one big-budget car TV show to two. You had Clarkson, Hammond and May mucking about and shouting, which are the elements of their relationship that seem to have most contributed to the enormous cult of personality that worships them online these days; and you had Top Gear, providing a (slightly) more serious, and gentler, look at the latest cars.

It definitely didn’t warrant the barrages of online abuse TG’s later presenters got, nor the calls for Clarkson to be reinstated, apparently from people who think it’s okay to smack a co-worker and not face any consequences.

And yet, here we are again. Before we even know the slightest bit about who The Grand Tour’s new lineup might be, or what format the show will take, it’s already being written off, simply on the basis of who won’t be presenting it. Shouldn’t we at least wait until we have even the slightest morsel of information before we start judging?

Things aren’t quite the same this time, either. Amazon could have just killed the show, but Top Gear is ‘on hiatus’ and probably not coming back, which would have left us with very little in the way of big-budget automotive TV. You could argue that the vast amount of free content on YouTube makes that irrelevant these days, but even the most popular, biggest-budget YouTube channels still don’t have the scope to create something as cinematic as Amazon (or indeed the BBC) – not on the same scale, anyway.

There’ll be those who say nobody can possibly recapture the chemistry Clarkson, Hammond and May had, but how do you know? And it’s not like they’ve always played these exaggerated, caricatured versions of themselves – go back and watch those very early series of rebooted Top Gear, and there’s a stark contrast to the silliness we’ve become used to on The Grand Tour.

My point is that the things we love take time to develop, and whoever takes over the show should at least be given that chance. That’s assuming it’s going to have multiple presenters, or will even be a car show. Amazon could simply just use the IP for something else entirely (fun fact: the BBC’s been using the Top Gear name since the 1960s, and it was originally a youth-oriented radio show that had nothing to do with cars at all).

Everything that Clarkson, Hammond and May have ever done together has had two distinct audiences. There were people who couldn’t care less about cars but enjoyed the trio’s chaotic energy and comedic chops, and there were people who loved cars, and for whom the brilliant dynamic the presenters brought was simply an added bonus.

If you’re in the former camp, then accept that they couldn’t continue forever – Clarkson, in his own words, is “unfit and fat and old” – and dive into the 26-series-strong back catalogue of episodes of TG and TGT that they fronted, every single one of which is available to stream (for free, in the case of TG).

If, meanwhile, you’re in the latter, try and be glad about the fact that it looks like we’ll have at least one big-budget car show to enjoy going forward. If the new presenters turn out to not be to your liking, then fair enough. Regardless of which camp you’re in, though, what’s the point in trying to shoot something down before it’s even had a chance to take off?