SURVIVAL OF THE SMARTEST
Richard Hammond’s marooned in paradise with a new sidekick for his latest show – but the twist is the two desert island desperadoes must use science to stay alive until they’re rescued
As one of the hosts of Top Gear and then The Grand Tour, Richard Hammond’s work has taken him to some of the most exotic, far-flung corners of the world. And his new series The Great Escapists, which sees him cast away on an idyllic island off the coast of Panama, goes a step further, leaving him marooned on what must be the most perfect slice of paradise imaginable.
Yet even when he’s surrounded by white sand, palm trees and stunning beauty, the old romantic says he spends every TV shoot wishing he was with Mindy, his wife of nearly 20 years, and their two daughters. ‘This is beautiful – look at it,’ he says, pointing at the vista behind him. ‘I’m certainly not saying, “Poor me”. We did try to find somewhere closer to home to film this show but there wasn’t anywhere else we could have made it, and it will look incredible on screen. But given the choice I would always choose to be home in the rain.
‘There isn’t a waking minute when I’m working abroad where I’m not thinking, “I wish I was there with them”. Or if it’s particularly beautiful,
LOCKDOWN IS STUPIDLY EASY FOR ME, BUT IT’S BEEN HARD TO SEE ITS EFFECTS ON MY FAMILY
as it is here, I’m thinking, “This is great, but Mindy’s not here”.’
Not that Mindy expects him to moon over her. Quite the opposite, in fact. ‘She’s very good at telling me to enjoy it,’ he says. ‘When I was younger I’d have been sitting in my room on my day off emailing Mindy and missing her, but I’m 51 now and old enough to realise that’s silly, nobody wins from that. So I went kayaking on my day off last week. We’re working long hours most days, but when there’s the chance to kick back I do, and that’s certainly not a bad way to kick back.’
The Great Escapists is the first show produced by Richard’s own production company Chimp. When he and his Grand Tour co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and James May decided to focus on intermittent travel specials, each was offered the chance by Amazon to make solo projects instead.
James has already aired Our Man In Japan and his cookery show for novices Oh Cook!, while Jeremy is putting the finishing touches to I Bought The Farm, about his 1,000acre working farm in the Cotswolds. Those were both solo projects, but Richard has teamed up with the American presenter of long-running science/experiment series
MythBusters, Tory Bellici, for The Great Escapists.
The show is a hybrid of drama, entertainment and popular science in which the two men pretend to be washed up on a desert island. They then use their engineering skills to make machines and inventions to help them survive as they wait to be rescued.
Episode one opens with the pair being ‘interviewed’ by police about their time on the island, before they trace back to how they ended up there. We see them arriving on the beach and then rifling through their shipwreck to find tools and materials they can use to build contraptions like a water-wheel to create power, as well as more luxurious appliances like a pizza oven.
‘First of all, if we were on a desert island we’d need food, shelter and water,’ says Richard. ‘We’re clever people so we solve that quite quickly, and then we decide to make a better life for ourselves while waiting to be rescued. So gradually we build a more luxurious place to live and equipment to catch fish or make some nice hooch, and along the way we talk about the science of what we’re doing because that’s what we’d do in real life.
‘Equally, if you’re not that into science, there’s a sub-plot that exists where Tory really wants to build something to get him rescued, whereas I’m rather enjoying turning my desert island into a kingdom and I’m happy to stay there.
‘So we argue about that, and that’s a narrative arc that spans the six episodes.’
The Great Escapists was filmed before Covid hit – just before, in fact, with Richard finishing the shoot and landing back home just three days before the first restrictions came into force back in March.
Since then he’s spent more time at home in Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire than ever, and admits it’s the
longest he’s spent with daughters Isabella, 20, and Willow, 17, in their lifetimes.
‘I have to be very careful not to sound like I’m bleating, because lockdown is stupidly easy for me really,’ he says. ‘But it’s been hard watching the effect it’s been having on my daughters. The eldest took a gap year and had worked hard since her A-levels right up until Christmas 2019, doing shifts in pubs.
‘She was supposed to be going travelling in April 2020, which of course she couldn’t, so she did all that saving up and then couldn’t go anywhere. Then she started at Bristol Uni in September and she’s been locked up. It’s just been appalling.
‘My younger daughter was supposed to be sitting her A-levels this year so she’s been working her socks off for exams that now won’t happen, so that’s been devastating. But it’s been a joy to be here with them throughout it all. I haven’t had this much time with them in their lives.
‘I’ve seen trees here blossom that I’ve never seen blossom before, in 12 years! That’s how often I’m usually away. So to be with Mindy and my daughters, and have my dog with me all day every day, that’s been an absolute treat.’
It will be no surprise to those who know Richard that he chose to work with a co-host on the new series. Being a sociable animal is partly what makes him enjoy his work so much: he and Mindy have regularly invited up to 30 friends on holiday with them, and they love throwing parties.
‘A few years ago my daughters were going on a school skiing trip,’ he recalls. ‘I was going with them as a helper and I remember Mindy
saying, “Are you going to be alright, getting along with that many strangers for that long?” and I said, “Darling, that’s what I’ve done for 20-odd years.”
‘You have to get along with everybody when you do this job or you’d go absolutely mad.’
Mindy clearly has the patience of a saint: not only to put up with the long absences, but also to stand by and watch her husband doing dangerous stunts despite several neardeath experiences, particularly the 288mph crash in 2006 that saw him suffer a brain injury which led to depression and paranoia and still has repercussions to this day.
‘I don’t think I was very easy to work with for a good while,’ he has said. ‘The team were very patient. I was difficult on shoots, losing my temper, feeling threatened by everything, very defensive.’
But he insists the risks he takes these days are not nearly so serious, and that he makes his mental health a priority with daily exercise
SUCCESS FOR ME MEANS A HAPPY FAMILY. THAT’S WHERE I’M TRULY LUCKY
to focus his mind. Wherever he is in the world he lifts weights and takes daily jogs because he believes it sends a message to his brain that his health is important.
‘I’m quite disciplined,’ he says. ‘I collect watches and normally I only wear nice ones, but I’ve recently got one of those fancy Apple ones that tells you to do your exercises. I’ve become quite obsessed with getting my steps in and what-haveyou.’
If The Great Escapists is a hit, a second series could see Richard form a bubble with his crew to make a follow-up, albeit under lockdown restrictions.
This year will also see him reunite with Clarkson and May for a socially distanced, Covid-safe mini Grand Tour made in Scotland last October, which they reckon is one of their best.
Yet despite his lengthy career, Richard says the most important things in his life will always be Mindy, Willow and Izzy. ‘This is a job – always has been and always will be,’ he says. ‘I love it – and it’s all I can do! – so I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to make a living at it. But it is a job.
‘Success for me means a happy family. That’s where I’m truly lucky.’
The Great Escapists is available on Amazon Prime from Friday.