The Grand Tour is a British motoring television series,[1][2] created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, and Andy Wilman, for Amazon Prime Video,[1][2][3] and premiered on 18 November 2016.

The programme was devised in the wake of the departure of Clarkson, Hammond, May, and Wilman from the BBC television series Top Gear with an initial order of 36 episodes that were released over three years.

[7][8] The show initially followed a format similar to Top Gear, including car reviews and timed laps, motoring challenges and races, studio segments, and celebrity guests, with the team using a studio within a large tent during this time; in its first series, the tent was located at different locations across the globe before taking a fixed site within the Cotswolds.

[9][10] The Grand Tour has received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the chemistry of its original presenters and strong production values.

Reviews are conducted in varying locales abroad, or within the United Kingdom, including a specially designed racetrack, parallel to the Top Gear Test Track, called the "Eboladrome".

[22] Initially, the first series involved these segments being filmed within a travelling tent that was set up in various countries, with audiences acquired from the local population at the site as part of an emphasis that the programme was on a "grand tour" around the world.

[24][28] Much like Top Gear's "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car", the segment involved two celebrities, who shared similar backgrounds or connections to certain elements (e.g. magicians) who competed against each other on a separate race track, to see who was the fastest, alongside conducting interviews with the presenters.

The track was designed to "trip cars up" and included sections devised under a humorous arrangement, such as "Isn't Straight", "Your Name Here", "Old Lady's House", "Substation" and "Field of Sheep".

They eventually decided to situate the new track at Enstone Airfield, close to the fixed studio tent location - a site originally planned for use with Top Gear.

With this, Amazon and the production team retired the studio and audience format in favour of films dedicated to road trips and adventure specials.

Under them, the show had an estimated worldwide audience of 350 million, and listed by Guinness World Records as the highest-viewed factual television programme.

Both May and Hammond affirmed they would not return to Top Gear without Clarkson, even though the BBC offered them lucrative salaries to remain on for additional series.

[49] Among those that had been approached included Netflix, who felt Clarkson's team wanted too much money for what they were worth, and BT Sport, believing this show would be a better fit on a network with a more global reach.

[50] In July 2015, Clarkson announced he had signed a deal with Amazon to develop a new car show that followed a similar format as Top Gear, with both Hammond and May joining him as co-hosts, and Wilman producing.

Clarkson said the name brought to mind the tradition of Grand Tours, and reflected how the show would travel to several different countries to film.

[57] There was speculation that the show could be called Gear Knobs after a trademark application was made for that name by an associated company,[58] but Clarkson stated in October 2015 that this would not be the title.

[26] According to Wilman, the idea to film audience segments in a tent came from Clarkson, who had seen an episode of True Detective that took place at a Baptist revival ceremony.

[22] Named elements from Top Gear like The Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, the Cool Wall, and the Stig could not be used at all, but they also had to clear other legal concerns.

[79] In September 2017, West Oxfordshire District Council gave planning permission for three months of filming from a fixed tent location on the Great Tew Estate, near Chipping Norton.

As part of their marketing campaign, Amazon placed crashed Toyota Prius cars at Hackescher Markt in Berlin, in front of London King's Cross railway station, and on the Hollywood Walk of Fame outside the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

[100] As of November 2016[update] the show has received positive reviews from critics,[11] with The Guardian saying "Jeremy Clarkson and co leave the BBC in their dust".

[101] The Grand Tour received a nomination in the Original OTT Streamed category at the 2017 Television and Radio Industries Club Awards.

It feels uncomfortably hubristic" but once the presenters were in the tent "Normal service has been resumed" and that "It seemed to me that Grand Tour is a TV show that wants to be – and quite possibly should be – a movie".

"[107] Kevin Yeoman of Screen Rant gave the show a positive review, stating "Fans can rest assured Top Gear hasn't gone anywhere, it's just hiding out at Amazon under a different name.

"[12] Sonia Saraiya of Variety was also positive of the show, stating "When it comes to the cars, The Grand Tour delivers gearhead porn in spades... Clarkson, Hammond, and May's love for machinery... is still present, pure, and appealing, even with the shift in networks and formats.

According to Anderson, Top Gear had "become even better", whereas The Grand Tour "seemed more scripted, less natural and at stages, forced... attention is often skewed away from the cars as the presenters, namely Clarkson, seemed to chase controversy and headlines".

Anderson continues that in-studio segments became repetitive quickly, particularly "Celebrity Brain Crash", also noting that all three hosts seem to spend far too much time needling each other, and test driver Mike Skinner offers no worthwhile commentary.

[113] Richard Hammond was criticised by Stonewall and Peter Tatchell for a comment he made in the sixth episode of the first series where he implied that men who eat ice cream and people who like grilling outside are homosexual.

[114][115] It was later revealed that the comment may have been an in-joke for the Finnish audience as a reference to a controversial TV commercial that aired in Finland many years earlier.

At the start of 2018, high-speed Eurostar train services between Paris or Brussels and London began to feature The Grand Tour as part of the available on board entertainment package.