James May


Amazon Studios greenlights James May travel doc

Amazon Studios has commissioned a six-part unscripted series with The Grand Tour presenter James May, titled Our Man In…Japan. Fifteen years after May first visited Japan as a baffled tourist, he embarks on a quest to understand the unique, extraordinary and complex country. He will embark on an epic journey across all of Japan from […]

Amazon’s global profile sparks Grand Tour format change

Jeremy Clarkson has said that The Grand Tour’s increasingly international profile on Amazon Prime Video has led to key changes that make the motoring format more global-facing. The presenter, who hosts the series with Richard Hammond and James May, said various format points were evaluated ahead of the show’s third series, which debuts on Friday (18 January) […]

Amazon claims Grand Tour smashes ratings record

New Jeremy Clarkson vehicle The Grand Tour has become Amazon Prime Video’s biggest premiere launch, the streaming site has claimed. E-commerce giant Amazon reported “millions of Prime members” in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan had streamed the series’ first episode over the weekend. This means the big-budget petrolhead series replaces Frank Spotnitz-created drama […]

Amazon preps global launch for The Grand Tour

Amazon’s Top Gear rival The Grand Tour will hit 200 countries later this year, but the launch does not mark the global rollout of the Amazon Prime SVOD service, TBI understands. The Grand Tour will launch in Amazon Prime Video territories Germany, Japan, the UK and the US this Friday (November 18), it was revealed […]

BBC extends Matt LeBlanc’s Top Gear journey

UK pubcaster the BBC has confirmed Matt LeBlanc will remain as host of motoring series Top Gear for two years, providing a major boost to the ailing format. LeBlanc was a hit with viewers in the first season of Top Gear not to feature Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May since 2002, though co-host […]

Fox invests $6.5m in Clarkson’s digital venture

21st Century Fox has invested US$6.5 million in DriveTribe, a new digital venture from the former presenters and producer of Top Gear. Former Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are planning to launch the DriveTribe digital portal in November. Ex-Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman and tech entrepreneur Ernesto Schmitt are […]

Apple, Amazon, and the exclusivity paradox

Rob Gallagher, director of research and analysis, media and entertainment at research house Ovum, muses on the reasoning behind and potential impact of Amazon Prime Instant Video’s reported £150 million deal to acquire the service of the former Top Gear presenting trio. If content is king, then exclusive TV is the king of content. That’s […]

‘Apple set to challenge Netflix for originals’

Technology giant Apple is set to shake up the content world, with a report from the US claiming it is to formally enter the original programming business. Variety cites sources close to the Cupertino-based media conglomerate suggesting “preliminary conversations” with Hollywood executives have taken place around original programming efforts. The scale of Apple’s ambition is […]

Bezos: ‘Clarkson series very, very, very expensive’

Jeff Bezos has said Amazon’s upcoming motoring series with the former Top Gear team will be ‘very, very, very expensive”. The Amazon founder and CEO told UK newspaper The Telegraph that recruiting the Top Gear team, who left the BBC show in the wake of a scandal that involved star presenter Jeremy Clarkson hitting a […]

Amazon signs Top Gear team for motoring show

Amazon Prime Instant Video has won the battle to sign former Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond. Amazon fought off competition from the likes of SVOD rival Netflix and UK commercial broadcaster ITV for the sought-after trio (pictured above). Former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman also comes as part of […]