You heard us right. The beloved Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has teamed up with former co-presenters Richard Hammond and James May for a spanking new show with Amazon, putting an end to speculation as to the future of these hosts.
Amazon said, that the new show would be overseen by the trio’s long time executive producer Andy Wilman, and will be available on its subscription streaming service Amazon Prime next year. The show would initially run for three seasons.
The retail giant however, has not divulge any further details of the yet-to-be named show. However, Amazon Prime used the hashtag #Drive2Prime in its announcement on social media today – leading to speculation that this could be the name.
The trio has been signed in for three seasons, which should be great news for auto enthusiasts.
Clarkson, 55, had to hand in his papers after physically assaulting a production staff member of the Top Gear Crew in march this year. He was then replaced as lead presenter of the globally popular Top Gear show – aired in more than 200 countries and watched by 350 million viewers worldwide – by television presenter and DJ Chris Evans.
Clarkson has been an infamous, controversial as well as profit-earning star for BBC and had been on a final warning since last year after he had been accused of using racist language on the show. Regarding the development with Amazon, he said
I feel like I’ve climbed out of a bi-plane and into a spaceship.
Clearly indicating why he has been a trouble-maker, yet popular.
Speculation had been growing day by day over the team’s next project, with reports suggesting the likes of Netflix, Hulu and Amazon competing. It probably just came down to the fact that Amazon offered them a higher budget.
Netflix already has a bigger and more distinguished portfolio of self-produced shows, so they probably weren’t willing to spend quite as much for any individual show. Amazon on the other hand still has some catching up to do in that aspect, so the brand value of the former Top Gear trio would have seemed valuable to them.
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