Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s friendship as Grand Tour stint ends
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May's time on The Grand Tour is coming to an end with one final episode One For The Road.
It marks the trio’s last car show together after over two decades of making programmes, as they buddied up on Top Gear then moved on to their Amazon Prime project. But while the TV stars are parking their TV time together, it’s unlikely it will mean the end of their bond.
Clarkson, Hammond and May have been close for years, supporting each other through a work scandal, accidents and injuries.
We take a look at some of their highs and lows.
Close friendship
The trio’s friendship started in 2002 when they came together on the revamped version of the BBC's motoring series Top Gear. Clarkson was already in position and Hammond arrived after a screen test.
Clarkson previously said in an interview with Joe.co.uk of how he knew Hammond was the man for the job. “I said, 'Whereabouts are you from?' and he went, ‘I’m from the Nam’ and I was like, ‘Oooh Christ’ and then he went, ‘Yeah Chelte-nham’. And it was, ‘OK, he’s got the job.’ I just knew immediately - something people don’t realise about Hammond is just how funny is.”
May was known to Clarkson already, their paths having crossed before, and he joined the team the following year.
Top Gear exit and The Grand Tour
The presenters continued on Top Gear for 13 more years, thrilling viewers with their motoring adventures and helping the series to become a real BBC staple.
But it all came to an end in 2015 when Clarkson was dropped after an altercation with one of the show’s producers.
Showing solidarity, Hammond and May followed him out of the door, saying that the trio came “as a package”.
Their seats on the Top Gear sofa were barely cold when the petrolheads began hatching plans for a new project. “I have lost my baby but I shall create another,” Clarkson wrote in The Sunday Times at the time. “I don’t know who the other parent will be or what the baby will be like.”
It turned out to be a straightforward formula – the three presenters and a bunch of cars – and in 2016, The Grand Tour was unveiled on Amazon's Prime Video.
Together all the time
Hammond previously told Yahoo that making so much TV has meant the three spend a lot of time together. "We've had an influence on each other because we spend an immense amount of time together when we're travelling, when we're filming,” he said.
“People often ask, 'Do you hang out a lot outside of work?' Well, back in the day, when we were making 14 shows a year, sometimes more on Top Gear, we never were apart, so yeah we have learned from each other."
And May told Yahoo: "When we're together making our specials and things, it's a pretty intensive, completely immersive experience apart from when we're actually asleep, which we tend to do separately.
“The rest of the time we're together and in each other's pockets, and getting on each other's nerves and in each other's hair. So yeah, I think I know them pretty well."
Injuries
The high-octane nature of some of their escapades has meant a few injuries over the years.
Clarkson actually claimed the first broken bone on Top Gear, when he hurt his thumb in series four. The star crashed a car into a wall and later revealed he has broken a thumb in the process.
There were more bumps, bruises and slipped discs, but in 2006 Hammond was seriously injured after crashing a Vampire dragster while filming. He had been shooting at a site near York and was driving the jet-powered dragster faster than 300mph when he crashed.
Hammond suffered a head injury and spent two weeks in a coma, and last year said on The Diary Of A CEO podcast that he still struggled with memory issues.
According to the Daily Mail, the TV star once shared that Clarkson sent amusing notes to his wife Mindy each day to help her keep her spirits up after his accident. “Mindy really appreciated that Jeremy did that,” he said.
Discussing his friendships with May and Clarkson, Hammond told Radio Times earlier this year: "We know each other very well, and it’s not founded on seeing one another in an office every day or in the pub at weekends. It’s seeing one another in incredible places, grappling with illness and injury."
Future friendship
The stars now have new ventures, with Clarkson busy with his Cotswolds pub The Farmer’s Dog.
They have made it clear they will all stay friends although Clarkson recently joked to members of the press that while Hammond would drive up to visit his pub, May might not.
"James probably won't, but Richard will,” said the star, who recently joked that May was barred from his drinking hole.
“I talked to Richard only yesterday,” he said. “We're mates and we'll still see them. We couldn't possibly have imagined we'd be together for 22 years when we started out. And so it's a wrench, thinking, 'God, we're never going to do that again'."
The Grand Tour: One For The Road is streaming now on Prime Video.
