Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Since Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous departure from the world’s most famous motoring show, Top Gear – along with his co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond – the wait continues for the battle for viewers to commence.
Amazon Prime’s new offering, which is set to earn Clarkson a fortune, began filming recently – well before the BBC has even managed to announce Top Gear’s full line-up – and fans are already curious to know what the new shows will be like.
Workaholic presenter Chris Evans is currently reprising his role as the king of Friday night fun on a UK TV channel, while continuing to present his daily radio breakfast slot and also getting to grips with his new job as the host of Top Gear.
The programme returns to the BBC in the spring and will no doubt also be aired on one of our regional channels too. Will it be as good? We’ll have to wait and see.
In his UK national newspaper column Clarkson admitted one thing is certain, his new show won’t be anything like Top Gear. All of the previous ingredients – the Stig, the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car and the Cool Wall – belong to the BBC, so the team has had to ‘start from scratch’.
The 55-year-old presenter said: “New name. New segments. New ideas. Everything is different. Apart from James May, obviously, who is still in 1953. And Richard Hammond, who still doesn’t quite understand anything. And me, who thinks everything can be solved with a hammer.”
It’s almost as if Clarkson punching a producer for forgetting his dinner was forgotten as soon as Hammond tweeted a picture and confessed: “The band is back together and it feels brilliant.”
Brilliant, the fact, that he’s with his old friends, or brilliant, the fact, that each of the boys will be rewarded with a solid £500,000 per show?
They signed a global contract with the internet streaming service to produce 36 episodes. However, in my opinion the outrage against Clarkson from many viewers will remain strong; they still love May and Hammond though and, despite my personal feelings towards Clarkson, I can guarantee that I will be among the fans watching the new show.
