Top Gear crew to film Amazon motoring show in new year, says producer
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Version 0 of 1. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May hope to start filming their new motoring show for Amazon’s Prime TV service in the new year, according to Top Gear Producer Andy Wilman, who is also signed on to the project. Wilman told the Radio Times: “We want to be on air next autumn, so we’ll come back from our break and get cracking on it. Hopefully filming will start in the new year.” Wilman confirmed that a clause in their contract with the BBC had stopped the team from launching another motoring show with a UK broadcaster until 2017, scuppering talks with ITV. Related: Top Gear's Clarkson, Hammond and May sign Amazon deal He said he and the presenters had chosen Amazon because it offered a big budget and the freedom to make the show they wanted. He added that services like Prime were “the future” and he wasn’t concerned about competing for ratings with the BBC’s version of Top Gear, which will star Chris Evans. He said: “All the scheduling competition stuff is becoming irrelevant. People will watch programmes when they want to and not when they’re told to. This is very much the future of how we’ll watch TV.” Comparing the shows will be difficult as Amazon rarely releases viewing figures and does not even reveal the total number of subscribers to its Prime service, which offers fast parcel delivery as well as access to an archive of TV and film and exclusive shows such as the Golden Globe-winning comedy Transparent and Victorian crime drama Ripper Street. |