After 22 years, over 200 episodes between Top Gear and The Grand Tour, countless live tours, DVD specials and billions of views worldwide, it’s over. One For The Road is the final collaboration between Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Andy Wilman, with the production company behind the show already in voluntary insolvency. This is it.
Before I talk about One For The Road, it feels like it’s only fitting I talk about this pretty momentous TV moment. And I’ll be honest, I don’t want to use “end of an era”, because it’s too cliched and obvious. This might be the end of a genre as a whole.
On the positive side of things, there’s no getting around it – this show was a media titan. It defined British Automotive culture and transcended it. Top Gear was struggling for its existence by 2002 when Clarkson, Hammond and Jason Dawe picked up the format, and by pushing the boundaries of what a car show could be, it became the most entertaining television show in the country. In its prime, there were over a dozen licensed editions of the show in other countries, had nine-figure viewership via the BBC World Service, stadiums were sold out worldwide via live shows and the three main stars behind it were recognised regardless of where they were filming.
It stopped being about the consumer advice, keeping up with the industry and the journalistic nature of it, and became a grand spectacle of experimentation, brilliant scripted comedy, the occasional very real parts of when the show bit off more than they could chew, and cinematography and filmmaking that would sometimes match the best of Hollywood. And it just so happened to have cars in it every once in a while. That was the beauty of Top Gear. It wasn’t a car show. It was an entertainment show that used cars to tell their stories. And that was awesome.
Maybe too awesome. What they leave behind as they move their separate ways is an industry that’s gone full circle in a way.
Call me woke under your breath if you like, but a lot of their past shows have aged like milk. They had no problem pushing the boundaries in the mid-2000s, the truly nasty era of British TV because it was a product of its time. But it’s now a library of sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, ableism, and a willing attitude to offend. Hell, by the end of their BBC run, they were just straight-up using slurs. It makes rewatching genuinely difficult. And that’s not including Clarkson’s racist tirade against Meghan Markle in the papers.
The Grand Tour run was a tenure of lost potential. They (Clarkson in particular), made no secret about breaking free from the BBC’s creative shackles. They got $180m from Amazon to start over and they had the potential to do whatever they wanted… they just decided to make the same show again, which was never going to be quite as good. Occasionally they were still able to hit the high notes of yesteryear but it came off as the gang repeating the same tricks they’d done before, only with an older, smarter, more critical audience that started to see through it.
James admitted that even without the producer punch that ended their BBC run, they only had a couple of years left planned anyway. That was a decade ago, and it showed as TGT ploughed on. And when some fans were understandably a little disappointed in all of that, they made episodes like “Unscripted” that mocked their criticism and doubled down on their formula. It just wasn’t the same. Even with the move away from the tend and going all in on the road trips, the format has fallen stale and tired.
And that’s before I talk about the rest of the industry since then. Top Gear tried to play the same tune again with Chris Evans, who bless him, probably tried too hard to be what had come before. As I’ve said before, I genuinely enjoyed the Matt LeBlanc, Rory Reid and Chris Harris era of the show, but the producers and a lot of the audience clearly didn’t. LeBlanc couldn’t handle the workload and commitment to such a huge show, Reid was the breath of fresh air the show needed that seemingly didn’t resonate with fans, and Harris was the internet darling of YouTube and Patreon playing monkey in the middle. That was only highlighted further when Paddy McGuiness and Freddie Flintoff joined. Brilliant, likeable personalities, but not professional drivers.
Chris Harris’ recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience summed up what we all kind of knew about the late BBC run of Top Gear. They were desperate to chase The Grand Tour and try to play a game of one-upmanship. They did move to BBC1 for that reason. They did ignore the safety aspects of the show and ignored the more experienced Harris to turn Freddie Flintoff into a stuntman and nearly killed him. Ultimately, it ended the show, and it was very nearly so much worse. That’s saddening to know that the BBC (Who rightly killed their monster when Clarkson went too far), clearly had some seller’s remorse.
And then there’s the independent YouTube scene, which has taken a beating. We barely go a fortnight without someone from Donut Media or Hoonigan making a video about why they quit and have gone solo, or someone else has made a video commenting on the news that someone else has gone solo. Turns out private equity firms buying high and then becoming profit obsessed has led to creative minds fleeting the scene.
The Grand Tour isn’t dead, it will return with a new production company and new hosts. I empathise with all involved. I know exactly how it feels to be following up an act there’s nearly impossible to replicate. But it also excites me that we might get a new direction, new ideas, etc. It’s why I’ve described the end of The Grand Tour and Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman as a difficult one. They were far from perfect, but they shaped what the entire automotive media industry would become. And they set the bar so high, that they might have accidentally damaged it beyond repair on the way out.
Let’s wrap this era up, in more ways than one.
One For The Road takes place in the Eastern part of Zimbabwe, with the boys ignoring Mr Wilman’s idea for a finale of testing the range of electric cars on the M25, and instead doing their own challenge of crossing 1,200 miles across the country in cars they’ve always wanted to own. James buys an original Triumph Stag (With the original V8), Richard in the Ford Capri GXL (Not the GT), and Jeremy with a Lancia Monte Carlo (With a surprisingly large amount of custom bits like the Ferrari 308’s headlights and the Delta Integrale’s front grill). Amazingly, the man paid EIGHTY grand for it for the episode. Phew.
And it’s obvious from the get go, this was a pretty contrived “We don’t care” kinda special. Completely leaning into the bit about clocking off early during a day’s filming, enjoying the luxury hotels in the country over the course of their adventure and lots of beers.
This road trip plays out like a greatest hits montage of Top Gear’s sentimentality and jokes of specials past, and no bones are made about it. Offensive jokes and leaning into ignoring the potential backlash because they know the song’s about to end. Another lake to cross due to a “wrong turn” and more boats being bought to transport the cars. Putting the cars on railroads again to travel across a coal mine. Someone’s car is constantly breaking (Hammond’s in this chase), and lots of roads that aren’t tarmac play into the narrative. If you’ve been here before, this will all feel very familiar.
It adds pros and cons to OFTR. As a plus point, compared to The Sand Job, they’re not trying anywhere near as hard to force the jokes out and it makes the overall watching experience a lot easier. The Sand Job felt like a drag for its 135 minute run-time, this time around, it’s a lot smoother as a viewing experience. It leaves plenty of room for sentimentality and vibes about the end of what’s to come. It’ll be your subjective memories of this trio that define how much you enjoy the throwback elements, but I personally enjoyed the sincerity of seeing the clips here and there of when Hammond talks about how he’s dedicated a third of his life to the series and thinking about “the final time”.
Once again, the cinematography in this special is stunning. It’s beautifully shot and filmed, the drones are excellently used, and it looked great to watch. The use of the soundtrack is excellent. Good vibes, and poignant in its messaging. Brothers In Arms and Monte Carlo used multiple times really hit home hard. It’s just a shame that Zimbabwe feels like it’s taken a back seat role in this special to Clarkson, Hammond and May saying goodbye, a lot like the Zygons in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary. It’s a fun backdrop, but it’s not why you’re here, and it’s a shame, because in The Sand Job and in other GT specials, the country takes centre stage in terms of history, feel and culture. Here, we see some black men dance.
This special was going alright and it meanders along nicely until the final act. As they’re crossing the lake towards the west of Zimbabwe, the trio decide to cross into Botswana and finish their adventure at Kubu Island where they started their first special at the Makgadikgadi salt pans, 17 years earlier. When they get back to the Makgadikgadi, to Clarkson and May’s shock, they see their old cars from that special – the Lancia Beta coupe that Clarkson owned, and Mercedes 230E, brought 1,000 miles back across the country and with their doors restored, having gotten rid of them during the special to help them cross the desert. It was a genuinely shocking and moving moment and highlighted the very best of the trio’s antics – When it feels real and not like they’re reading off a script. It was wonderful.
On the final day of the trip, they take the doors off their current cars and cross the flats and get to Kubu Island, and they recreate the same scenes they did 17 years earlier – flashing back and forth between the original film via the BBC’s footage. (Props to them for cutting a deal, a nice touch).
It ends the show, with Brothers In Arms playing in the background. It’s a touching, powerful, poignant scene. It’s odd that Clarkson, the man who we’ve seen be so emotional over his farm and the loss of animals, was remarkably stoic over the show that made him who he is, end. Just an observation. But it’s a wonderful end to the series that hits all the right notes from the camaraderie of the trio, to the crew that makes it happen, to the moments that defined the trio and the show as a whole.
One For The Road is exactly what you think it’s going to be. It’s a fun nostalgia trip over the past, and that makes it and breaks it for me. I’d be more okay with treading old ground with the show hadn’t been doing that so often already over the history of The Grand Tour as is. It doesn’t take as many chances as previous specials, and it knows it. But when it hits, man it hits hard. Regardless of how I feel emotionally, I think this is definitely the right time for this era to end, the last set of TGT specials have felt tired, like the gang knows their time is just about up.
Just one question remains… what now? Thanks Jeremy, Richard, James and Andy, you left a hole we might not ever be able to fill.
