Can a brand new trio of presenters capture the magic of Hammond, Clarkson & May?

For anyone who grew up, or spent the early part of their adult life watching James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear, Sunday nights were a night to look forward too. Once the Top Gear ride was over and we thought the three presenters were done, Amazon sprang into action and recruited them into their service via The Grand Tour.

Six seasons went by, with some top level high jinks and some mid tiered buffoonery, the three finally admitted retirement defeat and drove off into the sunset. For us, the dream was over and motoring shows will never reach this level of entertainment again.

You can probably tell I’m a fan, right?

Just two years later, and The Grand Tour is back, this time with three brand new presenters. We know the production value will probably be there, simply because it’s Amazon. We should expect the series to feature challenges and road trips featuring all manor of cars. It’s a given that we would have to watch a few episodes over the coming weeks to really make our minds up whether it works. The real burning question is…are the three presenters up to the task. There’s some very large boots to fill!

I first heard of this a year ago and to be honest, there was only one of the presenters I had any knowledge of, and that is Francis Bourgeois. I had watched him on his short TikTok and You Tube videos as a stream train fanatic and while I don’t even remotely share his passion of all things locomotive, I did find his enthusiasm infectious. Joining Francis is Thomas Holland and James Englesman, two You Tube presenters of the show Throttle House.

It’s genuinely very hard to go into this show as a fan of the original trio, with an open mind. There’s always the expectation that these three new presenters must match or even attempt to surpass the guys they replaced. By the time the first episode had finished, I realised that it was impossible. They were never going to be Hammond, Clarkson and May. Theirs was a chemistry forged out of years of working together, having seen the highs and lows of filming together, and you cant just replicate that straight off the bat, right? Right?

Wrong! While I found some of the exchanges were a little forced, especially between Francis and the two co-presenters who have worked together for a long time on You Tube, the three really do have a spark between them and given more time working together, will create their own brand of comedy, camaraderie and friendship. I laughed out loud many times while watching them and the best part? You don’t need to wait a whole week to watch the next instalment to make your mind up. The entire season is available to binge right now and as the show progresses, you soon start to see how their chemistry as a presenting trio will work and it works very well indeed.

Bourgeois’ style of presenting, especially while behind the microphone does come across as a little wooden. I suspect this is because of his lack of presenting experience. Yet while in the situation of presenting with the other three, driving cars around the world, he is naturally very funny and clearly a very talented driver as well as knowledgeable.

Thomas Holland is the plucky Canadian who also brings humour and excellent presenting skills, as does Englesman who while not as funny and is quite stiff in comparison, does show much more of a sense of humour and knowledge in the arena of motorcars.

Having binged the whole season since very early this morning, I can happily report that this is the start of a beautiful friendship and I enjoyed every moment of season 7 of The Grand Tour.

I give this show…

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Until the next post, fill your tank, kick up the revs and let the rubber burn!