Jeremy Clarkson says that signing up to make a Top Gear-style
motoring show with Amazon Prime has made him "feel like I've climbed out
of a biplane and into a spaceship". But what will the new car show be
like?
The 55-year-old presenter and journalist has said that he is looking
forward to a "liberating" new chapter in his career after the BBC dropped him for punching a producer who failed to provide him with a hot dinner.
For his part, Clarkson's co-star Richard Hammond said: "Amazon? Oh
yes. I have already been there. I got bitten by a bullet ant."
James May added: "We have become part of the new age of smart TV. Ironic, isn't it?"
Just how similar to Top Gear will the new show be? Amazon is staying
tight-lipped, but some clues came last week from former Top Gear
executive producer Andy Wilman.
According to Motor Authority,
Wilman was "the brains behind much of the style and humour of Top
Gear". Clarkson's long-time collaborator Wilman left the BBC in
solidarity with his old friend and Hollywood Reporter confirms he will be part of the new Amazon show.
Wilman said the new show will retain Top Gear's mix of studio
segments and "international escapades" but would have a "new look, new
elements, new home … lots of newness".
He said that Amazon had commissioned three seasons with 12 episodes,
each roughly an hour long. But he suggested that, unlike other
high-profile shows made for online streaming, the new programme would
not be released all in one go.
Instead, it will keep to a weekly episode structure, like Top
Gear. "We're a one trick pony," Wilman joked. "I wouldn't watch 12
episodes in a row."
There has been speculation that the show could be more spectacular
than Top Gear because Amazon will spend more money on it than the
cash-strapped BBC. Wilman confirmed that he was looking at a "really
good budget" and said that one of the reasons for signing with Amazon
was "the money".The deal is thought to be costing Amazon £160m, though only a part of that will be spent on production.
In one major respect at least, the new show will be identical: Clarkson will be joined at Amazon by his Top Gear co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May. Top Gear fans can expect the trio to continue their unique brand of banter in the new show.
Non-fans might be wondering if Clarkson will continue to court controversy in his new job, with further references to "lazy Mexicans" and "slopes". Launching the show in LA this week, Amazon Studios director Roy Price dodged the issue, the BBC reports.
Asked at the event if he would be setting ground rules for Clarkson's use of "language and slurs", Price said he preferred "not to think a lot about it" and would not comment on "details of our discussions or contracts".
One thing fans may be able to look forward to is more of Clarkson's startling on-screen honesty.
Earlier this week, the 55-year-old presenter retweeted a tweet from @TheLADBible featuring an excerpt from an old episode of Top Gear in which Clarkson explained why he feels affection for the Porsche 928, despite Hammond and May telling him that it is a "dull" car.
Clarkson explained that in 1994 he was living in London and got a call one night from his mother telling him that his dad was very ill in a hospital in Sheffield and that he should get there as quickly as he could.
"I had just taken the chicken out of the oven and I thought 'well I'll take that for my mum because she won't have eaten'", he said.
"I ran outside and had the 928 on test that week. And when I arrived in Sheffield, the chicken was still warm and my dad was still alive.
"And the truth is, if I hadn't been driving a car that could sit quite happily at 170 miles per hour, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to say goodbye to my dad.
"So as far as I am concerned the 928 is alright."
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