They’re back... with £20m TV deal
... but you’ll have to pay £79 to see their new show
TOP Gear trio Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have signed up with Amazon’s TV arm to front a new online motoring show.
The surprise move means the programme, which will launch next year, could go head to head with the BBC’s own Top Gear revamp.
Because Amazon is a US-owned internet brand, the deal gets round a ban on Clarkson doing a car show with another UK broadcaster until 2017.
The programme will be overseen by the trio’s longstanding executive producer, Andy Wilman, a schoolfriend of Mr Clarkson who was widely acknowledged as the brains behind Top Gear and the inspiration for some of its more controversial moments.
Mr Wilman told Broadcast, the TV industry magazine, that the budget for the series was so good, its production manager would be able to ‘run ****ing riot with money’.
In a swipe at the BBC, he added: ‘Money, freedom and love of quality. Those three things are what were attractive. Everyone we have talked to has said “They leave you alone to make your show”. That’s a big one for us – we don’t like interference.’
However, fans will have to sign up to Amazon’s £79-a-year Prime service before they can watch the trio – and many will have to pay even more to rig their televisions up to the internet.
Amazon would not say how much it will be paying the Top Gear trio, but it is thought to be investing well over £20million in the series. It hopes that the millions of Top Gear fans who could sign up for Prime in order to watch the show will then use the retailer for more of their shopping.
The majority of British customers currently use Amazon for occasional purchases such as books or technology whereas in the US customers rely on it for more routine shopping.
However, last night, a faction of Top Gear fans said they would not be parting with £80 to see the trio. ‘So you now have to pay to watch Jeremy Clarkson and crew?’ one wrote on Twitter. ‘Nah, I’ll stick to reruns of Top Gear, thanks.’
Another said: ‘I love Top Gear but not enough to pay Amazon £80 for it.’ Yesterday, Clarkson lost no time in taking a swipe at the BBC. ‘I feel like I’ve climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship,’ he said.
Clarkson – following repeated run-ins with BBC bosses over close-to-the-bone remarks – was ousted earlier this year after he punched his producer, Oisin Tymon. Hammond, May and Wilman eventually quit too.
At first they were expected to move to ITV, but a clause in Clarkson’s contract bans him from doing a car show with another UK broadcaster until 2017. Jay Marine, vice president of Amazon Prime Video in Europe, said: ‘Our approach is to give programme makers creative freedom to be innovative and make the shows they want to make.’
‘From a biplane to a spaceship’