The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime: Release date, trailers, news, deals and guide to the new Top Gear featuring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
We've finally got a release date for The Grand Tour! Clarkson and co. will be returning to our screens on November 18th via Amazon Prime Video.
Amazon made the announcement in a new YouTube trailer (below) which includes clips showcasing the types of cars and locations we can expect to see from the show. Episodes will be released every Friday following the Grand Tour's debut in mid-November.
What's more, Amazon is price slashing its excellent Fire TV Stick streaming dongle to help you get access to the new show. Well, sort of.
New subscribers to its Amazon Prime premium service can bag £25 off the Fire TV Stick, meaning you can grab one for just £9.99. To be eligible though, you'll need to sign up for a year's worth of Prime, which costs £79/year and gets you streaming access to The Grand Tour.
The big caveat is that the offer is only valid until 23:59 BST on Tuesday September 20, so you'll have to make your mind up pretty fast.
Sold? You can take advantage of the promo here.
That's the latest, but your full guide to The Grand Tour, including the all-important November release date, is below.
The Grand Tour – What is it?
It seems like an eternity since Jeremy Clarkson got the boot from the BBC following his infamous fracas with a Top Gear producer. Loyal sidekicks and fellow petrolheads Richard Hammond and James May subsequently left, and fans were left in the lurch over the status of the BBC's most-watched telly show.
Top Gear returned, but with new presenters and was largely deemed a flop. However, Clarkson and his cronies were confirmed for a return with The Grand Tour – a new motoring show which is set to share a lot in common with Top Gear.
The origins of the name lie in the fact that none of the team could think of a good moniker for the show. The Grand Tour was chosen after Gear Knobs – the presenters' preferred name – was ruled out by legal advisors.
The troublesome trio have reportedly signed up for three 12 episode series, and Amazon is thought to have budgeted £160 million to fund their antics.
The idea is that every episode will be filmed in a different country, with the show being hosted from a giant tent. So far, we know that the first series will feature South Africa, America, Germany and Yorkshire.
Jay Marine, the VP of Amazon Prime Video Europe, believes that The Grand Tour will be one of the ‘most anticipated TV launches of all time’ and based on the popularity of Top Gear, we wouldn't necessarily disagree.
The Grand Tour – What's the release date?
Amazon has confirmed the show will debut on November 18. You can see a gallery of select locations that will be featured on the show on the The Grand Tour website to further whet your appetite ahead of the official launch.
The Grand Tour – How do you watch it?
Rumours ran wild about where the the show would land, but we now know it will premiere on Amazon Prime, therefore only being available to those who pay for Amazon’s premium subscription service.
To watch the show, you’ll have to pay for either an Amazon Video subscription (£5.99 per month) or the full Prime package (£7.99 per month or £79 per year).
You can sign up to Amazon Prime and Amazon Video here.
While there's a 30-day free trial for the Prime service, it's currently unclear whether this will extend to the new show. We think it's unlikely Amazon will impose any restrictions given that it's trying to promote the new show.
Amazon is planning on releasing the show on a weekly basis, rather than in Prime's standard, binge-able, 'here's everything at once' format.
In terms of deals, students can get a 6-month free trial of the Prime service, which if timed correctly will see them through the first series. Once this runs out, students will be eligible to get the service for half price. You can learn more via the link below.
The Grand Tour – What will the format of the show be?
Amazon has kept its cards close to its chest and little is known about the content of the show, except that it'll feature multiple countries and studio sections filmed in front of an audience.
You can almost certainly expect similar antics to those that made Top Gear so popular. The number of accidents on set seems to suggest that normality will be resumed, with May breaking an arm, and Clarkson suffering other injuries during filming.
That's all we know so far about the show's format, but we'll be sure to update this article as soon as we learn more.
The Grand Tour – Filming locations
Filming has already happened in Johannesburg, and Clarkson confirmed on Twitter that the show would visit several locations in Europe.
We know that they filmed at the Algarve International Race Track in Portugal back in October, featuring three different supercars, and we also know that the first series will feature South Africa, America, Germany and Yorkshire.
The Grand Tour – What's the studio like?
There's not really a studio at all. The show's live audience segments will be filmed on location in a tent, meaning the new 'stage' is much smaller than the Top Gear hanger and will feature windows behind the presenters to show off the different locations.
The live shows have been hugely over-subscribed, with The Grand Tour claiming it could film in the US for the next six months thanks to the number of applications received.
The Grand Tour – Who else is part of the show?
Alongside the infamous Top Gear trio, former Top Gear executive producer and so-called 'fourth musketeer' Andy Wilman is also on board.
Guest stars haven't been named yet, but we're sure we'll learn more soon and that the line-up will be suitably high-profile.
