“The Grand Tour” began following Clarkson’s departure from “Top Gear” in 2015. Hammond and May soon followed their colleague, and all three signed up with Amazon. Although the core formats of the two shows were largely the same, there were some areas where “The Grand Tour” differed significantly from “Top Gear.” The budget was far larger, segments that were the intellectual property of “Top Gear” could be alluded to but not directly copied, and censorship was far less.
Clarkson, Hammond, and May’s original show, “Top Gear,” has also left our screens indefinitely. In November, the BBC announced that the decades-old motoring show would not return “for the foreseeable future.” The decision to shelve the show follows presenter and former cricketer Andrew Flintoff’s 2022 accident, which saw production of the show pause. Flintoff was awarded £9 million ($11.3 million) in compensation from the BBC in a recent settlement related to the crash.
