The Grand Tour

***The Grand Tour*** (styled as **GT**) is a British motoring television series for Amazon Video presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May and produced by Andy Wilman. It has most recently been airing episodes of its fourth season.

The four agreed to produce the series following their departures from the BBC series *Top Gear*. Initially, they were to produce 36 episodes over a three year span, but this rose to 38. These aired weekly, like a TV series. Then, the series was extended for a fourth season for specials releasing less frequently.

A concise episode list is available here.

Season 1 began airing on the 18th of November, 2016 and concluded on the 3rd of February, 2017. A few days after launch, *The Grand Tour* became Amazon Video's most watched premiere episode. The previous record-holder was *The Man In The High Castle*. The show was made available in an additional 195 countries and territories in December of 2016.

Due to Hammond's Rimac Crash and Clarkson's pneumonia, Season 2 was delayed. It would eventually air from the 8th of December, 2017 through to the 16th of February, 2018.

Season 3 aired from the 18th of January, 2019 to the 12th of April, 2019.

Season 4 aired from the 13th of December, 2019. It is still ongoing, with episodes releasing every few months. This is mostly intentional, but delays and limitations have occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

## Features (Seasons 1-3)

### The Tent

For Season 1 of The Grand Tour, studio segments shot in a large tent which was set up at various locations, such as Southern California and Nashville USA, Johannesburg South Africa, Stuttgart Germany, Dubai UAE, Rotterdam Netherlands, Lapland Finland, Loch-Ness Scotland and Whitby England.

For Season 2 and Season 3 of The Grand Tour, the tent was located in The Cotswolds, United Kingdom due to Clarkson's Pneumonia and Hammond's Rimac accident. This also made it easier for Segments such as Celebrity Face Off to take place. After the third series, the tent was abandoned and films were now filmed on location.

### Test Track

The show has a dedicated test track called the "Eboladrome", due to its shape resembling the structure of the Ebola virus, at the former RAF Wroughton. Section of the track are the "Isn't Straight", "Your Name Here", "Old Lady's House", "Substation" and "Field of Sheep". Here Clarkson, Hammond and May put various cars around the track.

During Season 1, Cars were lapped and timed by NASCAR driver Mike Skinner, known as "The American", who considers anything not American, front-engine and V8 powered as "communist". While doing a lap, Skinner makes sarcastic remarks about the car and the presenters. After unpopularity with viewers, Skinner was replaced by British Racing Driver Abbie Eaton for Season 2 and Season 3.

Prior to the first episode the Lap board had been pre-populated with ten times from a selection of cars, and the laps themselves were not shown, just the timings. After Series 3, the Eboladrome was abandoned ending the Show's Track Tests. The 2016 BMW M2 was the first car shown round the track and the 1988 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth was the last as after Season 3, the Eboladrome would no longer be used.

### Conversation Street

Here, the presenters discuss motoring news, new cars, hilarious sketches and recent events. The segment were always introduced by Richard Hammond and is accompanied by a 10 second title which features black silhouettes of the presenters against a white background. For Series 1, they discussed about the locations they were based at, whereas for Season 2 and Season 3, the segments were more car related.

### Celebrity Segments

#### Celebrity Brain Crash

For Season 1 of The Grand Tour, Celebrities were supposed to come on the show to be interviewed and test their mental agility, observational skills, and ability to multitask. However, guests in the segment are always 'killed' in gruesome ways before they can enter The Grand Tour's studio tent to participate. After each "death", May asks "Does that mean they're not coming on then?" to which Hammond deadpans "No James, they're not" while bluntly outlining how "dead" the celebrity is, while the other segments were . The segment received viewer Backlash and was replaced for Season 2.

#### Celebrity Face Off

For Season 2 of The Grand Tour, Two Celebrities of similar background come onto the show and after being interviewed, they are sent round The Grand Tour Rally Track in a Jaguar F Type to which of the duo was faster. Despite better views than in Celebrity Brain Crash, the segment was dropped to dedicate more time for films in Season 3.

## Features (Season 4-present)

For Season 4 of The Grand Tour, the trio abandoned the studio filming tent, ending Conversation Street, Eboladrome Track Tests, Standalone Segments and Dual Segments. Instead, they are focusing on big adventure road trips and specials which are filmed on location.

## Production

The format of segments in the programme are a result of needing to ensure differentiation from the team's previous work on *Top Gear* for the BBC. The show is presented from a large tent where the presenters sit around a trestle table, with the studio audience seated in front of them. For Series 4, the show will consist of a series of specials, filmed on location

### Naming

The show's title was announced as *The Grand Tour* on 11 May 2016. The show's logo was unveiled by Clarkson on Twitter on 28 June 2016. There was speculation that the show could be called *Gear Knobs* after a trademark application was made for that name by an associated company, but Clarkson stated in October 2015 that this would not be the title. He explained in April 2016 that the word "Gear" could not be used for legal reasons.