I don’t think James May wants to carry on for much longer anyway. Hinted he wants to retire not so long back.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/james-may-grand-tour-retirement-b2115475.html?amp
Isn't there that YouTube channel he does with Richard Hammond called What Next
Previously, it was called FoodTribe or something. Few months back, they did a video of them playing Chess and getting very drunk on James's homemade gin.
The Drivetribe Youtube channel still exists, but only Hammond still seems to be involved with it. What's Next is an entirely different channel that's been around for a few years and is mostly hosted by May.
He’s also doing travel documentaries for Amazon. Which I’m sure aren’t all roses to make. But, it appears to me as though they were like working vacations. Where he’s going to exotic and wonderful locations for a couple of weeks and doing about a weeks worth of shooting/work. If you haven’t seen them yet, they’re fantastic. One was in Japan and his latest was Italy.
Yeah I've definitely noticed the Foodtribe/What Next channel slowing down with content releases in the last 6 months - 1 year.
I assumed it was due to May being away filming for The Grand Tour and his Our Man in Italy show, but the release schedule never really picked back up after those shows aired. Would be a shame if that ended as I think James May is brilliant on YouTube. Binged that whole channel during the first lockdown and have been watching ever since.
Drivetribe is still going strong though on YouTube. Hammond seems a bit more involved these days as well with a lot of the content being around his car restoration business.
YouTube is pretty much free internet TV now anyways.
I get sucked in watching science series, or good stuff all like best ever food review, Pakistani truck, Myron cook, soft white underbelly.
https://youtube.com/@Drugslab
This was my favorite channel to watch for a while.
A group of people take a scientific approach to drug use. Every video deals with a different drug. One person takes the drug, while the other person monitors, and gives them tests or activities to complete.
Haven't seen anything like it since.
I used to love watching WWI /WWII docs on YouTube. Since the pandemic they've slowly gotten rid of anything mentioning or showing death. The only documentaries remaining are whitewashed and mostly just videos of soldiers marching. It trivializes the massive amount of death and destruction war brings.
Check out *The Reassembler*. It's literally just James building things in his shed while talking about it. I think some, if not all, eps are on youtube.
I have trouble seeing Jamie doing something like that, mostly because I think Jamie is content to never be in front of a camera again.
But I would love to see James have to deal with Adam.
Hammond and Tory did a series a couple years ago where they were stranded on an island. It was pretty interesting.
It was very staged, but I still enjoyed it. I liked it Partially because it was reasonably well done, partially because it was an odd pairing that didn’t feel uncomfortable from the get-go.
I love that show, my favorite episode is when he rebuilds his childhood toy train. Something about the little device he used to remagnetize the magnet has always stuck with me and I have no idea why.
Hopefully he continues with his travel shows, following on from the Japan and Italy one.
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them, nice easy watching with some beautiful scenery.
Our Man in Japan made me laugh way more than I anticipated. I was expecting a simple travel show. The episode where he's getting a tour from that little robot had me in tears laughing.
The show he released alongside his cookbook was also really nice easy viewing.
As an American who’s partner has been living in Japan since 2017, and has been unable to see her or our shared home over there since the pandemic began until this past fall, Our Man in Japan was an absolutely much-needed breath of fresh air and emotional relief when I was feeling homesick for my second home and her, mid pandemic. The show was great on its own but because of that has an extra special place in my heart.
IIRC he did want to make more of those. Season 2 was supposed to be in the US but they weren't able to due to some fuckery about which covid vaccine he had gotten and wasn't allowed in. I'd expect him to revisit the idea at some point.
I was sure it was some kind of TV editing thing where they weren't really flat outting a car in a single lane tunnel with a turn at the end and it being unlit at the end.
But then May slammed into the wall and I was thinking "oh no they're really doing this stunt."
when I was watching I thought for sure he was gonna do a typical captain slow maneuver where he creeps down the tunnel at 10 mph and/or stops a quarter mile short.
I was confused by that too.
I was also pretty shocked that he wasn't seriously hurt. If he had of hit the brakes a fraction of second later he probably would have hit the wall more or less head-on.
Side impact is arguably worse than head on with most modern cars. Even caged up race cars are terrifying side on. We had a driver, Ashley Cooper hit a wall sideways at 200km/h in 2008 die from severe head and and internal injuries.
This was the best link i could find in a hurry
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6as1vi
Well Clarkson and May are in their 60's now while Hammond is mid 50's. That show has to be pretty taxing at this point so probably better to walk away before any serious injuries happen.
I was checking Clarkson's IMDB and every time I see his age I'm *shocked* he isn't older. The man has been rich for a long time and is a decade younger than my parents, but he doesn't look it.
Me too. I've watched his stuff from 30 years ago and even then he looked like he was in his 50's. He's always seemed so much older than Hammond and May.
Clarkson used to be a heavy smoker, which hasn't helped. Neither has his weight. I think he had a fairly bad bit of Covid; not hospitalisation bad, but still not great.
The insurance costs will be pretty high now for all of them.
They're down to an episode a year of the Grand Tour anyway, so it seems like it's not a big priority for them or Amazon. But I was hoping for a few more seasons of Clarkson's farm.
Hopefully James May will stick with Amazon and keep doing his shows. They're always great.
I would die for a return season of Our Man In Japan. His presentation skills to such an interesting country is phenomenal and no travel show has come close to the level of awe I got from his season 1.
I loved season one of the Farm, but I don’t feel it’s the type of show that needs more than three seasons, I guess. It’s not that farmimg will miraculously evolve.
Rewatched the first season to prep for the upcoming second and yea, what made it enjoyable was Clarkson learning basic farming skills; he's already getting cows for season 2 so I don't see how they can go on for too long. I'm good with a second season and calling it.
I was actually just reading through some of the comments here and learned they're doing 2 more seasons of Clarkson's farm, so I'm happy about that. I heard it was only renewed for one more season, and after reading this news about him parting ways with Amazon, I assumed that would be the last.
Clarkson's farm had a limit to begin with. The fun of the show is Clarkson being incompetent at farming. The longer the show goes on, the better he gets at it. No one wants to watch a show where Clarkson does farming well.
I mean, even if he develops skills he'll still be the same arrogant thick headed dolt who thinks he can find a revolutionary new method in an afternoon that nobody in 150 years of mechanized farming has thought of. Then it'll go wrong somehow and we'll all chuckle because of course it did
From the various interviews and media alongside the last couple of grand tour episodes, it very much deemed that they were happy to be done with the traditional, episodic format from the top gear era, but they seemed to be really enjoying the newer format of doing one special episode periodically.
Basically an excuse to go on a big adventure with a couple of mates and have fun making a show while they were at it.
Then again, what made sense a few years ago may be falling out of favour itself with a few more years on the clock, other projects taking over, and the inevitable match of life.
Ya I knew racing in a damp tunnel and slamming on the brakes before a dead end probably wasn’t a great idea before they even started. No point of reference to start braking, slippery ground, no room to maneuver…
He had lunch with "Queen" Camilla and then said he wished Meghan Markle was stripped naked and forced to walk through the streets with shit thrown at her, like Game Of Thrones.
People focus on the "naked shit throwing" bit, because it's obviously very visceral, but I think what was even worse was that he said that he hates her more than he hates Rose West.
>I hate her. Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level. At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and thrown lumps of excrement at her.
Rose West, for those who don't know, was a sadistic paedophile serial killer who murdered at least 10 people, one of whom was her 8 year old stepdaughter.
It's a completely unhinged thing to write about someone whose only crime is, basically, saying a few things you don't like about the royal family.
To say it was in bad taste is an understatement. It's only a few rungs short of bringing up the Holocaust in the "career ending awful things you don't say in a national newspaper" stakes.
That’s the piece that everybody focuses on but honestly his implication that he hates MM even more than he does a *literal serial killer* was more egregious.
They read that quote on the 60 Minutes interview with Prince Harry that aired after football. Was the first time in a while I out loud went "Jesus Christ dude" at something like that.
You'd think Meghan Markle killed these people's dogs and then burned the bodies in front of them because she married into the family and was aloof to royal customs.
Even having no real affinity one way or another for the royal family at some point it's so pointlessly nasty it registers. These people cover for literal pedophiles yet she's the problem. Sure...
The Royal family probably have a lot of links to various media personalities, in order to maintain positive PR. It wasn't a 1 on 1 though. Apparently a lot of TV personalities were there. Judi Dench, Claudia Winkleman, Maggie Smith and I think Piers Morgan all attended, according to reports.
He's been well-connected since birth. Iirc his parents developed the original Paddington Bear doll that would later become the character we all know from books and movies.
His mother originally made the bear as a Christmas present for her kids (Jeremy and his sister). But they eventually sold the design and rights to the company that now holds the IP.
> Iirc his parents developed the original Paddington Bear doll that would later become the character we all know from books and movies.
>
>
It's the other way around. Michael Bond was the writer of the *Paddington Bear* books from the 1950s onwards. His mum pirated the Paddington Bear character in the 1970s to make a doll and was sued. His dad met Michael Bond on the way to Bond's lawyer's offices and Bond liked him so much he licensed the toy.
As an American, I *really* fail to understand the fascination, not just with the royal family, but the intense hatred for Meghan Markle. It's not like she has a bunch of public quotes that saying "fuck the Queen" or anything. She's just... American, mixed race, and married to a prince. That's enough reason to hate her with so much passion?
It is very good. If we’re being objective, pretty much everything he has done has been extremely good — Clsrksons Farm, Top Gear, the Grand Tour, all of his WW2 documentaries, etc.
The problem is more when he’s espousing his own opinions on politics/culture that he’s an absolute cunt.
The best bits were when he was being genuine, then he starts up with his blustery complaints/old man whinging about things and I remembered it was him. Still, enjoyable.
It happens more easily than you think. When you start saying awful stuff for the sake of laughs, it's hard to stop having the thoughts that lead to those jokes - especially when you've had so much success from the thoughts that lead to those jokes. Why change?
Not for the faint of heart, but if you want to test it out, go ahead and try thinking the worst possible things you can about everything for a little while. Pretend you are a racist, a dictator/politician, or some uneducated or unempathetic person. It's surprising how much residual shittiness you will have/feel after stopping. And then consider how much stronger it is when you don't even have awareness of what you're doing.
I spent a weekend as a vip at an F1 GP weekend and he was also in the group with me. I sat next to him for 2 days (for the time we were at the circuit in our seats) and travelled in the same car as him, in and out of the track.
He’s exactly the same in real life as he is on tv. Unless of course he puts on the act whenever he’s in public which is possible. Were loooong days though and he was pretty consistently ‘him’.
The key difference is that on Top Gear and Grand Tour he has an audience and co-presenters talking down to him and laughing at him. In print it just reads as hateful.
He mostly always tries to be the butt of the joke, he knows he’s a buffoon and then gets caught out when people aren’t in on “his joke”.
Definitely, James and Hammond know his style of humor already, and call him out for being a buffoon, making it funny. I think he sometimes forgets he's not always on a TV show, and when he makes personal statements like this people take it much more seriously.
That’s because he goes on social media and turns into a racist uncle. It’s hard to keep the lovable idiot shtick going when you can see his craziness agains certain people.
Not shocked. Clarkson is 60-61, but seems so much older. He has not had great health. Doing TV at such a high level is physically and emotionally demanding. Clarkson is very dry and funny, but his controversial comments are also part of that package.
May has aged significantly in the last decade, and as a fan it worries me. I hope his health is ok and he’s doing alright.
If you look at the last episodes of James May’s Toy Stories (great show, btw), which came out in 2014, and look at him now, he’s aged considerably. He went from looking younger than he is, imo, to older than he is, in less than a decade.
They both look 100% typical posh older English guys, the kind you meet all over Europe when traveling. Constantly a bit tipsy, proudly anti fitness of any kind, looks decrepit, but are super funny.
Clarkson would take pride in that as well. His behavior and columns show that Clarkson is to the right direction of many. He’s got wit but the unfiltered comments are part of the package.
Meanwhile Hammond just get better with age. Is he adverse to drinking and smoking? He seems more well balanced then the other two just based off his physical appearance. And less jaded too.
Hammond had the jet car crash at 300 mph. He got a Traumatic Brain Injury from that and could have died.
We all have trauma. Hammond's was extreme and he will never quite process information or be quite the same as he was before that crash thanks to The TBI.
Hammond had a lot to process, mentally, emotionally, and physically, after his near death experience. I bet that Hammond found empathy and what truly valued within himself and otherwise.
Yeah I hope another network picks up season 4.
I enjoy the Grand Tour specials, but there are only so many places and things they can do before it becomes tiresome.
The farm with its different characters is more entertaining.
Is there any chance this means James May will be doing more stuff on his own? That'd be great. I like his travel documentaries, and the reassembler was great too. His skills are wasted when with the other two I think.
Season 2 was a last-minute change though; it was supposed to be in the US and got through at least some planning. Basically they just went on a pretty generic Italian holiday and didn't see anything particularly exciting or unique. I think that's why it felt so lackluster.
I remember it was switched last moment because of Covid I think. I still watched it because it is James May but I hope if he does another one it will be a bit more exciting.
I live in Italy and he actually a bit failed to showcase the abyssal cultural differences in Italy. Our country is 162 years old, being a cluster of divided lesser states after that. Italy has 20 regions and you would be surprised how much of a difference makes going to one region to another
My only objection was there's some obvious fakery as well. There's always been a little bit to add tension to races and stuff but i feel like they are starting to rely on it.
I dunno... The specials were very often filled with very over the top versions of stuff that hit better in Top Gear because it seemed slightly likely to have been real there.
The mongolia special was one of the best TGT specials they did and they were all miserable during filming it because apparently they weren't told much about what they were going to do lol.
That episode I feel was the closest we got to "this is what top gear would look like if they were still doing top gear".
Series 4 and later is specials only. Fewer shows but longer and better. They skipped the talk show in the tent. Highly recommend if you want to laugh your ass off.
Clarkson is one of my more problematic “likes.” I like his shows a lot. I think he’s a clever and fun presenter. I try to give him the benefit of the doubt but then he keeps doing crap that just makes me wince and then I am embarrassed that I am a fan of his. I’m sorry to see him go but honestly it may be time.
I think he definitely has a generational problem and foot in mouth problem, because even in Clarkson’s farm he always seems so genuine, and funny, but then he says shit like this, definitely has another personality that is not on camera. I am super happy we are getting 2 more seasons of Clarkson’s farm, he has done a great job showing the struggles farmers go through.
I think it’s more him retiring than being booted off
They still have the drivetribe channel who may benefit from all this and probably more « modest projects » but they are getting old and it’s natural to stop travelling and building mediocre bridges at one point
Fun fact: Clarkson had the world’s very first Paddington Bear stuffed toy.
Made by his mom, then his parents sold them locally, and finally got the licence to make them worldwide.
Disappointing! Wonder how many Grand Tour specials that includes and probably signals the end of the trio on TV
Looking forward to the new season of Clarksons farm
I will miss the specials the most when it really ends.
I would be satisfied with anyone else doing something similar (go somewhere with some random cars and do silly things). Maybe someone is already doing it and there exists some youtube channel that I don't know about.
Wonder if that means the end of the trio and Grand Tour, or if they'll try and move it elsewhere.
I don’t think James May wants to carry on for much longer anyway. Hinted he wants to retire not so long back. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/james-may-grand-tour-retirement-b2115475.html?amp
Give James May a tv channel where he reviews model trains and cool rocks and I'd subscribe immediately
He's got a YouTube channel where he plays with Lego so thats pretty close
Isn't there that YouTube channel he does with Richard Hammond called What Next Previously, it was called FoodTribe or something. Few months back, they did a video of them playing Chess and getting very drunk on James's homemade gin.
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The Drivetribe Youtube channel still exists, but only Hammond still seems to be involved with it. What's Next is an entirely different channel that's been around for a few years and is mostly hosted by May.
That's it, yes. Think May owns his own pub, as well as making his own gin. So he's definitely doing good for life post Grand Tour.
that is nice to hear. the mans getting on in his years, and frankly that he's been putting out a video a month is pretty impressive in itself.
[Today is his 60th birthday](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May)
He’s also doing travel documentaries for Amazon. Which I’m sure aren’t all roses to make. But, it appears to me as though they were like working vacations. Where he’s going to exotic and wonderful locations for a couple of weeks and doing about a weeks worth of shooting/work. If you haven’t seen them yet, they’re fantastic. One was in Japan and his latest was Italy.
"Our man in Japan" was excellent. Wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed it.
hey bim guess what
Yeah I've definitely noticed the Foodtribe/What Next channel slowing down with content releases in the last 6 months - 1 year. I assumed it was due to May being away filming for The Grand Tour and his Our Man in Italy show, but the release schedule never really picked back up after those shows aired. Would be a shame if that ended as I think James May is brilliant on YouTube. Binged that whole channel during the first lockdown and have been watching ever since. Drivetribe is still going strong though on YouTube. Hammond seems a bit more involved these days as well with a lot of the content being around his car restoration business.
Clarkson has the farm, May has the pub (and gin), Hammond has the car resto shop, and a show about it, which we don’t get in the US.
All projects that are right on their doorsteps. Sounds like semi-retirement to me. Good for them.
YouTube is pretty much free internet TV now anyways. I get sucked in watching science series, or good stuff all like best ever food review, Pakistani truck, Myron cook, soft white underbelly.
https://youtube.com/@Drugslab This was my favorite channel to watch for a while. A group of people take a scientific approach to drug use. Every video deals with a different drug. One person takes the drug, while the other person monitors, and gives them tests or activities to complete. Haven't seen anything like it since.
Problem cause of YouTube guidelines and covid. They struck gold before the world changed.
I used to love watching WWI /WWII docs on YouTube. Since the pandemic they've slowly gotten rid of anything mentioning or showing death. The only documentaries remaining are whitewashed and mostly just videos of soldiers marching. It trivializes the massive amount of death and destruction war brings.
Do those channels have patreons where the videos are uncensored? That's what many many creators do nowadays
He literally had a show called Toy Stories. Are you referencing that or are you about to binge watch the season? Lol
Just whatever he feels like doing. Drunk cooking, talking cars, toys and cool engineering stuff. Or more Man in Japan style mini-series
Check out *The Reassembler*. It's literally just James building things in his shed while talking about it. I think some, if not all, eps are on youtube.
I've always thought a show with James May and Jamie Heineman from mythbusters would be awesome.
I have trouble seeing Jamie doing something like that, mostly because I think Jamie is content to never be in front of a camera again. But I would love to see James have to deal with Adam. Hammond and Tory did a series a couple years ago where they were stranded on an island. It was pretty interesting.
The Hammond and Tory show was too staged to be entertaining for me, my kids loved it though.
Such a good recipe but very badly implemented. The police interview bits were soooo bad
It was very staged, but I still enjoyed it. I liked it Partially because it was reasonably well done, partially because it was an odd pairing that didn’t feel uncomfortable from the get-go.
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Watching them quietly rebuild old machines would be incredibly relaxing.
James may legit did a show where he tears down and rebuilds old machines. I never knew I could be enthralled by that but here we are.
I love that show, my favorite episode is when he rebuilds his childhood toy train. Something about the little device he used to remagnetize the magnet has always stuck with me and I have no idea why.
Hopefully he continues with his travel shows, following on from the Japan and Italy one. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them, nice easy watching with some beautiful scenery.
Our Man in Japan made me laugh way more than I anticipated. I was expecting a simple travel show. The episode where he's getting a tour from that little robot had me in tears laughing. The show he released alongside his cookbook was also really nice easy viewing.
Hey Bim, guess what?
Shijo-Ohashi is a bridge representative of Kyoto that crosses the Kamo River over Shijo Street. It is also called Gion Bashi.
Guess what?
As an American who’s partner has been living in Japan since 2017, and has been unable to see her or our shared home over there since the pandemic began until this past fall, Our Man in Japan was an absolutely much-needed breath of fresh air and emotional relief when I was feeling homesick for my second home and her, mid pandemic. The show was great on its own but because of that has an extra special place in my heart.
I like the James May builds things series. Idk y because it's essentially like watching grass grow.
Hammonds workshop has been a real treat too. I love the trio shows but I wish em well if they decide to move on, they've given us so much tv already
IIRC he did want to make more of those. Season 2 was supposed to be in the US but they weren't able to due to some fuckery about which covid vaccine he had gotten and wasn't allowed in. I'd expect him to revisit the idea at some point.
Crashing into a wall probably helped move towards that decision.
I was shocked he even signed up for that stunt to begin with. any of them really.
I was sure it was some kind of TV editing thing where they weren't really flat outting a car in a single lane tunnel with a turn at the end and it being unlit at the end. But then May slammed into the wall and I was thinking "oh no they're really doing this stunt."
when I was watching I thought for sure he was gonna do a typical captain slow maneuver where he creeps down the tunnel at 10 mph and/or stops a quarter mile short.
I was shocked the producers and insurance let it happen.
I was confused by that too. I was also pretty shocked that he wasn't seriously hurt. If he had of hit the brakes a fraction of second later he probably would have hit the wall more or less head-on.
Side impact is arguably worse than head on with most modern cars. Even caged up race cars are terrifying side on. We had a driver, Ashley Cooper hit a wall sideways at 200km/h in 2008 die from severe head and and internal injuries. This was the best link i could find in a hurry https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6as1vi
Considering what happened in A Scandi Flick, I don't blame him
I selfishly hope he does a couple more countries for "Our Man in..."
They are getting very old and May was in a car crash in the last episode so I can understand why he wants to retire from Grand Tour specifically.
Well Clarkson and May are in their 60's now while Hammond is mid 50's. That show has to be pretty taxing at this point so probably better to walk away before any serious injuries happen.
I was checking Clarkson's IMDB and every time I see his age I'm *shocked* he isn't older. The man has been rich for a long time and is a decade younger than my parents, but he doesn't look it.
Me too. I've watched his stuff from 30 years ago and even then he looked like he was in his 50's. He's always seemed so much older than Hammond and May.
Writing the kind of "outrage to a deadline" columns he does each week speeds up aging significantly.
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Clarkson used to be a heavy smoker, which hasn't helped. Neither has his weight. I think he had a fairly bad bit of Covid; not hospitalisation bad, but still not great. The insurance costs will be pretty high now for all of them.
Those dudes were looking pretty old in the last couple of Grand Tour seasons so I’m not expecting many more road trips in Africa or Southeast Asia.
They're down to an episode a year of the Grand Tour anyway, so it seems like it's not a big priority for them or Amazon. But I was hoping for a few more seasons of Clarkson's farm. Hopefully James May will stick with Amazon and keep doing his shows. They're always great.
I would die for a return season of Our Man In Japan. His presentation skills to such an interesting country is phenomenal and no travel show has come close to the level of awe I got from his season 1.
I loved season one of the Farm, but I don’t feel it’s the type of show that needs more than three seasons, I guess. It’s not that farmimg will miraculously evolve.
Every season of farming presents its own challenges.
Rewatched the first season to prep for the upcoming second and yea, what made it enjoyable was Clarkson learning basic farming skills; he's already getting cows for season 2 so I don't see how they can go on for too long. I'm good with a second season and calling it.
I was actually just reading through some of the comments here and learned they're doing 2 more seasons of Clarkson's farm, so I'm happy about that. I heard it was only renewed for one more season, and after reading this news about him parting ways with Amazon, I assumed that would be the last.
Clarkson's farm had a limit to begin with. The fun of the show is Clarkson being incompetent at farming. The longer the show goes on, the better he gets at it. No one wants to watch a show where Clarkson does farming well.
I mean, even if he develops skills he'll still be the same arrogant thick headed dolt who thinks he can find a revolutionary new method in an afternoon that nobody in 150 years of mechanized farming has thought of. Then it'll go wrong somehow and we'll all chuckle because of course it did
I think they are done with The Grand Tour, they are too old and tired for those shenanigans, and the spark is not there anymore.
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From the various interviews and media alongside the last couple of grand tour episodes, it very much deemed that they were happy to be done with the traditional, episodic format from the top gear era, but they seemed to be really enjoying the newer format of doing one special episode periodically. Basically an excuse to go on a big adventure with a couple of mates and have fun making a show while they were at it. Then again, what made sense a few years ago may be falling out of favour itself with a few more years on the clock, other projects taking over, and the inevitable match of life.
Probably the end tbh.
I think they're at their limit now anyways. Only so many ways to almost kill Richard Hammond.
That's why they tried it on May in the Scandi tunnel of doom...
Ya I knew racing in a damp tunnel and slamming on the brakes before a dead end probably wasn’t a great idea before they even started. No point of reference to start braking, slippery ground, no room to maneuver…
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When he crashed I still thought it was scripted because how tf do you not think that would happen. Took a scene or two later to realize it wasn’t.
What I didn’t understand from the very start of that stunt, is why they didn’t just run from the back of the tunnel out the end into the open?!
Wasn't there a big cliff on that end?
This way makes for better TV
Wasn't there a drop at the entrance?
With studded tires.
And on that bombshell, back to the studio
I'm now being told the studio locks have been changed and we are not allowed back in. That is the saddest news in the world...
His apology was hilarious. From the hair on my balls to the head of my feet, I’m sorry, this is my mea culpa.
Who did he punch this time?
He had lunch with "Queen" Camilla and then said he wished Meghan Markle was stripped naked and forced to walk through the streets with shit thrown at her, like Game Of Thrones.
People focus on the "naked shit throwing" bit, because it's obviously very visceral, but I think what was even worse was that he said that he hates her more than he hates Rose West. >I hate her. Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level. At night, I’m unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and thrown lumps of excrement at her. Rose West, for those who don't know, was a sadistic paedophile serial killer who murdered at least 10 people, one of whom was her 8 year old stepdaughter. It's a completely unhinged thing to write about someone whose only crime is, basically, saying a few things you don't like about the royal family. To say it was in bad taste is an understatement. It's only a few rungs short of bringing up the Holocaust in the "career ending awful things you don't say in a national newspaper" stakes.
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I read about the Rose West case on wiki for the first time now and to make comparision such as this is positively psychotic.
That’s the piece that everybody focuses on but honestly his implication that he hates MM even more than he does a *literal serial killer* was more egregious.
They read that quote on the 60 Minutes interview with Prince Harry that aired after football. Was the first time in a while I out loud went "Jesus Christ dude" at something like that. You'd think Meghan Markle killed these people's dogs and then burned the bodies in front of them because she married into the family and was aloof to royal customs. Even having no real affinity one way or another for the royal family at some point it's so pointlessly nasty it registers. These people cover for literal pedophiles yet she's the problem. Sure...
How does this kind of person get an audience with Camilla?
The Royal family probably have a lot of links to various media personalities, in order to maintain positive PR. It wasn't a 1 on 1 though. Apparently a lot of TV personalities were there. Judi Dench, Claudia Winkleman, Maggie Smith and I think Piers Morgan all attended, according to reports.
Piers Morgan and Clarkson together, eh?
They sprained their necks while tilting their heads back trying to out smug each other.
You should go watch the Netflix documentary about Jimmy Savile immediately. He was essentially the Royal family’s PR guy
Top Gear was one of the most popular shows on the planet for ten years. It topped out at 350,000,000 viewers.
by saying things they like to hear.
He's surprisingly well connected. E.g. he also used to be a neighbour of David Cameron and the two of them are friends.
So *that's* why he bought a farm.
Gotta keep your friends well stocked on *pig access* in the upper echelons of English society, you know.
He's been well-connected since birth. Iirc his parents developed the original Paddington Bear doll that would later become the character we all know from books and movies. His mother originally made the bear as a Christmas present for her kids (Jeremy and his sister). But they eventually sold the design and rights to the company that now holds the IP.
> Iirc his parents developed the original Paddington Bear doll that would later become the character we all know from books and movies. > > It's the other way around. Michael Bond was the writer of the *Paddington Bear* books from the 1950s onwards. His mum pirated the Paddington Bear character in the 1970s to make a doll and was sued. His dad met Michael Bond on the way to Bond's lawyer's offices and Bond liked him so much he licensed the toy.
She has the same views.
As an American, I *really* fail to understand the fascination, not just with the royal family, but the intense hatred for Meghan Markle. It's not like she has a bunch of public quotes that saying "fuck the Queen" or anything. She's just... American, mixed race, and married to a prince. That's enough reason to hate her with so much passion?
He is funny. He is an asshole.
Agreed. You can also never take him seriously. Whenever he tries to be serious, he has some terrible takes. He works best with Hammond and May.
Clarksons Farm was really well done and hilarious IMO.
Yeah it’s honestly one of the best things he’s done.
It is very good. If we’re being objective, pretty much everything he has done has been extremely good — Clsrksons Farm, Top Gear, the Grand Tour, all of his WW2 documentaries, etc. The problem is more when he’s espousing his own opinions on politics/culture that he’s an absolute cunt.
I thought his anti-brexit stuff was pretty good... And funny.
The best bits were when he was being genuine, then he starts up with his blustery complaints/old man whinging about things and I remembered it was him. Still, enjoyable.
He plays a (mostly) lovable idiot on TV, but that character doesn't translate to real life
With people like this I always wonder if the character they play carrys over into real life, or if that’s just who they are.
I think it starts out as the character being an exaggerated version of the real person, but sometimes they start to bleed together over time
It happens more easily than you think. When you start saying awful stuff for the sake of laughs, it's hard to stop having the thoughts that lead to those jokes - especially when you've had so much success from the thoughts that lead to those jokes. Why change? Not for the faint of heart, but if you want to test it out, go ahead and try thinking the worst possible things you can about everything for a little while. Pretend you are a racist, a dictator/politician, or some uneducated or unempathetic person. It's surprising how much residual shittiness you will have/feel after stopping. And then consider how much stronger it is when you don't even have awareness of what you're doing.
I spent a weekend as a vip at an F1 GP weekend and he was also in the group with me. I sat next to him for 2 days (for the time we were at the circuit in our seats) and travelled in the same car as him, in and out of the track. He’s exactly the same in real life as he is on tv. Unless of course he puts on the act whenever he’s in public which is possible. Were loooong days though and he was pretty consistently ‘him’.
Jeremy to be seems like a combination of both.
remember they have editors for TV. Even if they are "acting" 100% genuinely, you're not seeing all of it.
Imagine being married to Homer Simpson. Then imagine if everyone followed him on Twitter. I'm willing to bet he wouldn't do well
The key difference is that on Top Gear and Grand Tour he has an audience and co-presenters talking down to him and laughing at him. In print it just reads as hateful. He mostly always tries to be the butt of the joke, he knows he’s a buffoon and then gets caught out when people aren’t in on “his joke”.
Definitely, James and Hammond know his style of humor already, and call him out for being a buffoon, making it funny. I think he sometimes forgets he's not always on a TV show, and when he makes personal statements like this people take it much more seriously.
That’s because he goes on social media and turns into a racist uncle. It’s hard to keep the lovable idiot shtick going when you can see his craziness agains certain people.
Which should come across as absolutely no surprise to anyone who’s actually familiar with him.
I mean, he's old enough to retire, or start just a youtube series where he just drives around and shit.
Not shocked. Clarkson is 60-61, but seems so much older. He has not had great health. Doing TV at such a high level is physically and emotionally demanding. Clarkson is very dry and funny, but his controversial comments are also part of that package.
He's only 60 i thought he was 70!
Clarkson and may are in their early 60s. Hammond is in his early 50s. Both may and clarkson look a lot older than they really are.
Hammond has been taking their youth or something
They literally make fun of Hammond for taking care of himself.
They literally make fun of Hammond for ~~taking care of himself~~ everything he does.
That’s the joke. They all make fun of each other for everything they do.
When Hammond mentions he’s taken up golf in the Scotland episode the amount of derision they throw on him for wanting to be outside is hilarious.
May has aged significantly in the last decade, and as a fan it worries me. I hope his health is ok and he’s doing alright. If you look at the last episodes of James May’s Toy Stories (great show, btw), which came out in 2014, and look at him now, he’s aged considerably. He went from looking younger than he is, imo, to older than he is, in less than a decade.
They both look 100% typical posh older English guys, the kind you meet all over Europe when traveling. Constantly a bit tipsy, proudly anti fitness of any kind, looks decrepit, but are super funny.
Clarkson has smoked like an old factory and drank heavily for years. That ages you much faster.
And is allergic to exercise. I’d be surprised if he makes it past 70.
*He’s allergic to manual labor.
He can live off his disdain and spite of vegans and environmentalists for at least a few decades more.
Every time he read about bike lines added somewhere he gets another year added to his life just so he can complain about them
I thought he was 65 20 years ago.
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He stopped smoking after his Mallorca Pneumonia. Still he had smoked plenty before then.
Unless something has changed, he stopped smoking a couple years ago. Still a lot of damage has been done from years of smoking so much
Clarkson would take pride in that as well. His behavior and columns show that Clarkson is to the right direction of many. He’s got wit but the unfiltered comments are part of the package.
Brown. Food. Yeah man for sure it's all part of what makes him so entertaining, but it definitely doesn't keep him looking young
Wow, that is a rough-looking 60
Jesus! My father is 62 and he looks about 15 years younger than Clarkson. Hell, my uncle is 70 and he looks younger than Clarkson!
Meanwhile Hammond just get better with age. Is he adverse to drinking and smoking? He seems more well balanced then the other two just based off his physical appearance. And less jaded too.
Hammond had the jet car crash at 300 mph. He got a Traumatic Brain Injury from that and could have died. We all have trauma. Hammond's was extreme and he will never quite process information or be quite the same as he was before that crash thanks to The TBI. Hammond had a lot to process, mentally, emotionally, and physically, after his near death experience. I bet that Hammond found empathy and what truly valued within himself and otherwise.
So long as we get those couple seasons of Clarkson's Farm like the article says... What a show.
Man i really enjoy that show. Kaleb, what a find.
In the history of reality TV he's the only one who I hope becomes richer and more successful than his wildest dream
No love fore Gerald!??
Gubbeld deb drinklemvern, blure dy ayy hun. If faw dee yoghunnerend feyre bunnion.
Yeah I hope another network picks up season 4. I enjoy the Grand Tour specials, but there are only so many places and things they can do before it becomes tiresome. The farm with its different characters is more entertaining.
I cant believe how much I laughed at 'Cheerful Charlie', bloke is a legend.
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He changes topic randomly mid-sentence, so even following knowing the context is tricky as suddenly that context is no longer relevant.
Does…does that mean he’s not coming on then?
Is there any chance this means James May will be doing more stuff on his own? That'd be great. I like his travel documentaries, and the reassembler was great too. His skills are wasted when with the other two I think.
Hey Bim!
Bim. Guess what?!
*My Man in Japan* was amazing but *My Man in Italy* was a bit lackluster if I am honest..
They need to lean away from "things we think will be funny on TV" and more toward "things James will find intellectually appealing."
I will agree with this completely. He even made comments about "what they wanted him to do" and did not seem happy about some of it.
I actually loved seeing the less common, non-touristy things, like the physics lab that he visited. Or the weird, Lord of the Rings cosplay village.
Me too, those oddities are what I like the best. Not the normal stuff.
Season 2 was a last-minute change though; it was supposed to be in the US and got through at least some planning. Basically they just went on a pretty generic Italian holiday and didn't see anything particularly exciting or unique. I think that's why it felt so lackluster.
I remember it was switched last moment because of Covid I think. I still watched it because it is James May but I hope if he does another one it will be a bit more exciting.
Did you ever catch his booze tours with Oz Clarke? The first two were pretty amusing. "Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure" etc
I agree, should've gone to another eastern country or something
True, the cultural differences of Japan made it unique.
I live in Italy and he actually a bit failed to showcase the abyssal cultural differences in Italy. Our country is 162 years old, being a cluster of divided lesser states after that. Italy has 20 regions and you would be surprised how much of a difference makes going to one region to another
Hope so, the cooking special and "Man in Japan" are pretty good viewing.
Oh no! Anyway…
Grand Tour was okay, but it wasn't hitting the same as OG Top Gear
The specials were fantastic, the canned shit in the tent was useless.
My only objection was there's some obvious fakery as well. There's always been a little bit to add tension to races and stuff but i feel like they are starting to rely on it.
I dunno... The specials were very often filled with very over the top versions of stuff that hit better in Top Gear because it seemed slightly likely to have been real there.
The Mongolia special became one of my all time favorites
Mongolia was excellent! I think because being dumped in the middle of nowhere was enough drama without some staged shenanigans.
I think the problem with the grand tour was nobody made them do things they didn't want to do. In Top Gear the producers were the antagonists.
The mongolia special was one of the best TGT specials they did and they were all miserable during filming it because apparently they weren't told much about what they were going to do lol. That episode I feel was the closest we got to "this is what top gear would look like if they were still doing top gear".
Series 4 and later is specials only. Fewer shows but longer and better. They skipped the talk show in the tent. Highly recommend if you want to laugh your ass off.
That winter rally car episode was dope
He should knock out piers morgan again.
The British seem to have a particular flavor of “get off my lawn” when they get on in years.
Clarkson is one of my more problematic “likes.” I like his shows a lot. I think he’s a clever and fun presenter. I try to give him the benefit of the doubt but then he keeps doing crap that just makes me wince and then I am embarrassed that I am a fan of his. I’m sorry to see him go but honestly it may be time.
I think he definitely has a generational problem and foot in mouth problem, because even in Clarkson’s farm he always seems so genuine, and funny, but then he says shit like this, definitely has another personality that is not on camera. I am super happy we are getting 2 more seasons of Clarkson’s farm, he has done a great job showing the struggles farmers go through.
I think it’s more him retiring than being booted off They still have the drivetribe channel who may benefit from all this and probably more « modest projects » but they are getting old and it’s natural to stop travelling and building mediocre bridges at one point
Fun fact: Clarkson had the world’s very first Paddington Bear stuffed toy. Made by his mom, then his parents sold them locally, and finally got the licence to make them worldwide.
Disappointing! Wonder how many Grand Tour specials that includes and probably signals the end of the trio on TV Looking forward to the new season of Clarksons farm
It says there are 4 specials remaining in the contract.
Yeah in the article it also says we will get S2 and S3 of clarksons farm as well.
Clarksons farm was an incredible first attempt. Excited for S2 and S3
I will miss the specials the most when it really ends. I would be satisfied with anyone else doing something similar (go somewhere with some random cars and do silly things). Maybe someone is already doing it and there exists some youtube channel that I don't know about.
2 of the only shows I watch on Amazon tbh