Exclusive: Prime Video preps ‘The Grand Tour’ return, with UK trio pitching

The Grand Tour (Source: Prime Video)

Amazon Prime Video has enlisted three UK-based production companies to pitch new versions of The Grand Tour as the streamer looks to extend the show, TBI understands.

The Grand Tour has been a flagship for Prime Video since its launch in 2016, with former Top Gear trio Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May presenting five seasons, the final episodes of which are set to air later this year.

Dan Grabiner (Source: Orchard Studios)

The show had been produced by UK-based prodco Expectation but TBI has now learned that the streamer is taking pitches on a reworked format from three other UK companies: All3Media’s Studio Lambert, Banijay’s Shine TV and Dan Grabiner’s Orchard Studios.

Details of how the new versions being pitched will differ from the original are not known but TBI understands talent is being proposed as part of presentations.

Studio Lambert’s slate ranges from The Circle and Gogglebox to the UK version of The Traitors, while Shine TV is known for MasterChef, Hunted and The Island With Bear Grylls.

Orchard Studios was founded in November 2023 by Grabiner, the former Amazon Studios UK & Northern Europe chief who previously oversaw unscripted for the streamer.

It works across unscripted, formats, fact ent and documentary, and was launched with Nicola Hill, former co-CEO at The Garden, who is MD.

Earlier this year, the prodco hired BBC factual entertainment commissioner Clare Mottershead and ITN exec Nat Lippiett, who previously worked on Prime Video’s docuseries The Confession.

Clarkson’s Farm

‘The Grand Tour’ controversy

The future of The Grand Tour has been somewhat unclear for months, with its current presenting trio confirming last year that they would be stepping away from the show.

That move came after Clarkson’s newspaper column about Meghan Markle, in which he wrote that she should “parade naked” while people “throw lumps of excrement at her”.

Prime Video’s UK unscripted lead Fozia Khan subsequently said late last year that The Grand Tour had come to its “natural end” in its current guise, but that the streamer was exploring how it could continue with new hosts.

While Clarkson is departing The Grand Tour, a fourth season of Prime Video’s other flagship unscripted hit – Clarkson’s Farm – was extended into a fourth season in November.

That show and The Grand Tour are both being sold to third parties, with Warner Bros. Discovery recently picking up the series for its channels in Europe.

Amazon, Shine TV and Studio Lambert declined to comment, reps for Orchard Studios had not responded at press time.