The Grand Tour won’t hit our screens until November 18, but detailed outlines for the first four episodes of Jeremy Clarkson’s new show have now been made public – and they reveal a lot. The titles and synopses, released yesterday, give a flavour of what fans can expect from the Amazon Prime car programme, which cost a reported £160 million to produce.
Clarkson and his fellow former Top Gear hosts Richard Hammond and James May will apparently “become special forces soldiers”, test their mettle at a secret training base in Jordan, and even enjoy a visit to the opera.
Surprisingly, although the premise of the 12-episode series involves its studio tent moving to a new location each week, it seems the trio became stranded in Whitby after the third episode – and James May was to blame.
Here’s everything we’ve learnt about the first 4 episodes:
Episode 1: The Holy Trinity (California)
“The Grand Tour kicks off in California, USA, when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May take their famous studio tent to Dry Rabbit Lake. Hundreds of fans from across the U.S. travelled to the desert, near Lucerne Valley, outside of Los Angeles, California to be part of the first ever episode of Jeremy, Richard and James’ new show for Amazon Prime.”
Episode 2: Operation Desert Stumble (Johannesburg)
“Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May bring the travelling Grand Tour tent to The Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg in South Africa. In this show, the three hosts are forced to become special forces soldiers with an all action challenge at a top secret training base, deep within Jordan. Also in this episode, Jeremy introduces the 800 horsepower Aston Martin Vulcan to the Grand Tour test track, and James is sent to investigate an unusual form of motorsport called spinning.”
Episode 3: Opera, Arts and Donuts (Whitby)
“Friday 2nd December 2016 The Grand Tour travelling tent pitches up on the quayside in the English coastal town of Whitby from where Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May introduce a modern take on the traditional gentleman’s tour of Italy. With Jeremy in an Aston Martin DB11 and James in a Rolls-Royce Dawn, the pair are set for a leisurely trip of culture and fine dining until a noisy and unwelcome guest arrives.”
Episode 4 – Enviro-mental (Whitby)
“The Grand Tour studio tent is back in Whitby, England for various complicated reasons, some of which are James’s fault. In this show, Jeremy Clarkson tests the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, desperately trying to remain impartial despite knowing that Richard Hammond owns one, and then compares it to the track-focused BMW M4 GTS. Also in this episode, the hosts become unusually ecological as they attempt to create cars made of truly sustainable materials before taking part in what’s billed as a green motorsport event.”