back to article And on that bombshell: Top Gear's Clarkson to reappear on Amazon

Amazon Prime has signed up Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May for a car show intended to rival Top Gear on its streaming service. The show will be produced by their long-time executive producer Andy Wilman, said the company in a gloating press release. The trio have committed to three seasons as part of the TV …

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  1. Sir Barry

    Clever Move

    Amazon are on the ball, how many new Prime sign ups are they going to get?

    I gave up on the show a long time ago so I won't be one.

  2. Haku
    Coat

    Now they're on Amazon, perhaps Clarkson should change his tradmarked "POWERRR!" cry to "BANDWIDTH!"

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    12 Years a Wage Slave

    At least they'll be free of the meddling old fuddy-duddy BBC, what with their outdated views on racism and hitting people.

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: 12 Years a Wage Slave

      Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.

    2. streaky

      Re: 12 Years a Wage Slave

      In fairness I don't think they cared about either but caved to inevitable pressure on all occasions it was reasonably valid (and the slant one still bemuses me to this day). If we start getting worried about racist terms from other countries that we don't know we're going to have some major problems - well, we already have.

      I think the issue is the constraints that they place on people regardless of all that; but how the fk should I know..

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 12 Years a Wage Slave

      To be honest, if some functionary denied me steak and tried to use "global warming" as an excuse, I probably would have punched him in the nose as well.

  4. Pen-y-gors

    Sorry, chaps

    Still not a reason to lash out all that dosh for Prime

    1. Ben Tasker

      Re: Sorry, chaps

      Depends on your point of view really, Sky TV is what £15 a month, or more if you want a decent selection. That's £180 a year.

      Amazon Primeis £79 a year, so less than half.

      Netflix is (I think) £6.99 a month, so slightly more expensive that Prime. IMO, Prime have got a better catalogue than Netflix too, though things change.

      Of course, the major difference is, Sky will let you pay month by month whereas Amazon want the lot upfront, which (to me at least) does make it less attractive, but personally I wouldn't call it a lot of dosh in comparison to the competition.

      I've a few other bugbears with Prime, but the overall cost isn't really one of them.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sorry, chaps

        Actually you can subscribe to Amazon Prime Video, independently of the delivery stuff in Amazon Prime, for £5.99 a month.

        1. 0laf

          Re: Sorry, chaps

          Yeah but the full deal is only £8 more a year for everything else.

          I'm considering moving on to the full thing.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Sorry, chaps

            "Yeah but the full deal is only £8 more a year for everything else. I'm considering moving on to the full thing."

            You'd *almost* think they intentionally priced the "video only" service for marginally less than the full one to make the latter appear better value and in the knowledge that almost everyone- like you- would view the upgrade as a "no brainer" choice. *Hmm......*

            Also, Amazon probably got their money's worth out of this for the press attention alone. Pretty sure a lot more Radio 4 news listeners know about the service than they did before, even if they never gave a toss about Top Gear.

      2. unwarranted triumphalism

        Re: Sorry, chaps

        The cheapest Sky package is £20 a month, on top of the obligatory TV licence.

        So £32 a month.

      3. rtfazeberdee

        Re: Sorry, chaps

        Amazon is off the list anyway as Prime Tax Avoiders

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sorry, chaps -

        Deduct the TV license also!

        If all you watch is netflix and prime (as I do) then you are not legally required to have a TV license. that is £145.50 a year saved not to be wasted on whatever nonsense the BBC is currently producing.

        Send a letter to TV licensing withdrawing implied consent for them to visit your property and outlining reasonable (think IT contractor hourly rate) charges for dealing with any visits, letters or phone calls from them. You cannot stop them from writing to the address in general (ie addressed to the homeowner) but you can tell them to assume non response means you are still there and the stated conditions still apply, unless they have taken reasonable to steps to confirm you are no longer resident (such as checking the electoral role)

    2. Andrew Richards

      Re: Sorry, chaps

      Obviously YMMV but I signed up just for free delivery. Prime Video was a nice bonus. And this week Prime Music streaming is an extra bonus.

      Amazon Fire TV is a nice device and a decent UI given they're basically just trying to sell you stuff. (Shame there's no direct local media playback yet and Plex devs not wanting to dirty themselves with DVD rips.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sorry, chaps

        Install Kodi on it and stream all the local media you want.

        Install TVMC on it and get a lot of extras too! (Google is your friend here)

    3. Planty Bronze badge

      Re: Sorry, chaps

      Really?

      £6.50 a month gets you unlimited music streaming, unlimited TV and video streaming, free picture storage, free ebooks, free next day delivery on Amazon stuff..

      I know people that pay more than that for just ONE of those things..

      It's a major bargain.

  5. Steve Evans

    Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

    Well there's no point signing up to Amazon to get prompt delivery, they're either late, or don't show up (filing a "tried to deliver, no answer").

    I suspect their vehicles are GPS tracked though (in an attempt to get the delivery drivers to actually do their job), as we've watched one of their clattery old vehicles drive past, just as the "tried to deliver, no answer" pinged up on the phone.

    Delivery at 30mph would be tricky at the best of times.

    I guess those speeds are only going to increase with the influence of Clarkson!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

      I must admit I've never seen an Amazon-branded vehicle of any kind; they have been known to use poor quality delivery companies on occasion although thankfully I've not had that problem. I have had issues with the odd Amazon marketplace seller, but then they're not Amazon.

      It can be a bit disorientating to order something on Saturday afternoon and get it the next day.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

        If your using prime next day delivery amazon are good.

        If your just ordering as normal (as in not next day but 3-5 days) they can be a bit crap since they use their own "Amazon Logistics services" for my area, and while they have improved they ain't great. Stuff like delivering to office addresses after 6pm, house addresses at random times during the day, not even bothering to deliver in some cases or delivering to a neighbour and not putting anything through the door to say "your neighbor has it". I think the "best" experience was pre-ordering a game 3 weeks before it was out, then amazon not delivering it on the Friday of release, but on the Saturday...at about 7pm :P Defeating the point of amazon really as I could have gone to the store Saturday morning and picked it up!

        Its improved now but they are know around the office as "Amazon Shitgistics" for good reason. Might be good for prime, but standard delivery has got worse since they stopped using royal mail! They make Yodel look competent!

        1. Fibbles

          Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

          If your just ordering as normal (as in not next day but 3-5 days) they can be a bit crap since they use their own "Amazon Logistics services" for my area, and while they have improved they ain't great. Stuff like delivering to office addresses after 6pm, house addresses at random times during the day, not even bothering to deliver in some cases or delivering to a neighbour and not putting anything through the door to say "your neighbor has it".

          Sadly my experiences have been similar. Still, the competition seems to exclusively use Yodel in my area so Amazon are the lesser of two evils.

          I once had a delivery of some computer equipment which was shipped in fairly nondescript brown cardboard boxes. The Yodel driver left the packages in the cardboard recycling box in front of my house.

          On collection day.

          In the rain.

        2. TheOtherHobbes

          Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

          IME Prime stuff always costs more than normal stuff. So you're paying twice for the allegedly free next day service.

          I'd use Prime Video more if it worked on Chrome on my Mac without stuttering, and without trying to force Flash updates in Safari every time I use it, even though I've tried to turn them off.

          As for Clarkson - whatevs.

    2. Stevie

      Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

      "Well there's no point signing up to Amazon to get prompt delivery, they're either late, or don't show up (filing a "tried to deliver, no answer")."

      In New York I have had one delivery marked as a "prime" offer that arrived later (by one day) than the "expected delivery" date. I typically see my tat in two full days from the purchase time, even though that is NOT what is promised in the ToS.

      I prefer my stuff delivered by the US Post Office, as they are on-time and don't break my stuff. UPS are prone to seasonal worker issues in my experience. Amazon even got the USPO to start delivering on Sundays again, something that was discontinued so long ago I don't remember it.

      The times I see excruciating delivery delays that miss targets sometimes by over a month is when I get involved with a UK or Aussie vendor. I try and avoid doing so because the business standard seems to be "charge for express delivery and superb packing, toss in a padded Teflon mailer and sling it aboard the nearest tramp steamer pointing approximately the right way".

      So perhaps your beef is not with Amazon so much as the vendors and the pitiful postal infrastructure in your locale?

      There are other advantages with Amazon Prime that make the cost worthwhile for me, but to be honest until now I hadn't factored streaming TV as one of them. I live for Clarkson howling "I've ruined m'car!" while toodling across the Andes or somesuch.

      1. AndyS

        Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

        @ Stevie - interesting ramble, thanks. I enjoyed most of it. Could have been more relevant (this being a UK website discussing a UK TV show which has been ousted from the BBC), but hey, I value your effort.

        6/10

        1. Steve Evans

          Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

          Actually AndyS it was about a UK TV program appearing on Amazon prime...

          I chose to stick the boot in from the prime angle, which for me in the UK, is pretty poor for package delivery.

        2. Richard 22
          FAIL

          Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

          > this being a UK website discussing a UK TV show which has been ousted from the BBC

          Have you heard of this phenomenon called the "world wide web". World wide being the important bit here...

          Also - Top Gear is a UK TV show in origin, but was also one of the BBCs biggest exports, so again, not really just a UK show...

          There's no comment on the article over whether the Amazon Top Gear would be UK only or not - I suspect not.

        3. Stevie

          4 AndyS

          Could have been more relevant (this being a UK website discussing a UK TV show which has been ousted from the BBC), but hey, I value your effort.

          So you aren't aware that the Clarkson/May/Hammond Top Gear goes out weekly on BBC America, or that there are umptytump seasons of it available for binge-watching on Netflix?

          How Imperially insular of you. You should check out this American invention called The Internet. It is wonderful for keeping up to speed.

          Well, I'll let you get back to The Archers on your wireless.

          1. InNY

            Re: 4 The Archers

            The Archers is brilliant! Nothing like it anywhere.

            This evenings episode was really good. Oh, I'm in the Finger Lakes, upstate NY just now. Normally Brooklyn.

            But for 4AndyS, the local pub had a Top Gear night recently. It was packed, the bar that is.

          2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

            Re: 4 AndyS

            that there are umptytump seasons of it available for binge-watching on Netflix?

            The last I looked, there were a grand total of 5 series of Top Gear available on Netflix - about 60 episodes. A rather small portion of the total, in other words. And they're not recent ones.

            And many cable subscribers don't get BBC America. We used to, but our carrier dropped it when they raised the price.

            1. Stevie

              4 Michael Wojcik

              "The last I looked, there were a grand total of 5 series of Top Gear available on Netflix - about 60 episodes. A rather small portion of the total, in other words. And they're not recent ones."

              I see. Could you point me toward an exact definition of the formerly useful large number estimation phrase "umptytump" then? I would normally presume 60 as being well within that classification, but stand ready to appreciate some new ISO definition pinning the exact parameters down.

              "And many cable subscribers don't get BBC America. We used to, but our carrier dropped it when they raised the price."

              Are you telling me you can't wave more money at your cable TV supplier to put it back again? If you are indeed in America and this is the case you must have been the only person watching BBC America via your carrier. You need to get more cosmopolitan neighbours. Moving house would seem to be in order.

              Live somewhere better, man. Live somewhere better.

    3. Andrew Richards

      Re: Oh well, at least you get to watch some fun TV whilst waiting for a delivery...

      Never had delivery issues once I got used to adding delivery instructions to leave near front door (depot for pick up is about an hour away...)

      As well as their lockers they're moving into other collection points too: including a local Halfords, which was a bit of a surprise to some of the staff when I went to collect a parcel recently.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just Great

    But since Amazon doesn't offer their video service in Canada I'll just have to torrent the new show too.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just Great

      They don't in many countries.

      That's why VPN was invented.

      1. L05ER

        Re: Just Great

        pff, pirating is WAY better. no buffering, player of choice, etc...

        it's rewarding this type of licensing bullshit to give them your money... you are still in violation of the law AND you paid them for the privilege.

  7. Len
    Mushroom

    Panto!

    Three seasons behind a paywall and they're ready for panto!

  8. gv
    Thumb Up

    Amazon Prime

    Excellent, yet another reason for not signing up to Amazon Prime.

  9. Lars Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Full points for

    "boring old men back to act like prats again"

  10. Douchus McBagg

    amazon? meh.

    i'll wait for the DAVE re-run...

    1. stucs201

      I was hoping Dave would sign them up, but I don't think that was ever a realistic hope.

      1. eJ2095

        BBC own part of Dave so would hae never happened..

        Also if i remember the 3 guys have a clause in there contract saying they can not work for another uk broadcaster for 12 months after there contract had finished....

        Hence i am guessing the move to amazon

        1. Gene Cash Silver badge

          non-compete

          So non-competes of this form are mostly illegal in the US due to the fact that a bloke's got to earn a living so you can't tell him he can't have a job, unless you're willing to pay them full wages for the term of the non-compete.

          How does the BBC get away with it?

          1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

            Re: non-compete

            I think non-competes are now a bit of a legal minefield.

            Case law over recent years has made employment contracts an awful lot less enforceable, in terms of notice periods and non-competes. Although the higher the pay and position, the less likely you can get out of it.

            But Clarkson and Wilman at least were owners of the production company, and sold it to the Beeb only a few years ago, so there may have been terms in that sale contract. Or it might be in their BBC series contract. And it may just be that they're not allowed to work on car shows on other channels, rather than all shows.

  11. Len
    Happy

    In other news...

    Amazon have signed a contract for three more seasons of Last of the Summer Wine.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: In other news...

      Have an upvote

    2. wiggers
      Coat

      Re: In other news...

      Last of the Summer Whine?

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: In other news...

      Well, we do have a Clegg who needs a job.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: In other news...

      They also have a new season of Bosch, which is superb, but I guess I your world, everything you don't know about, must be because its crap. In other words, you let someone else do the filtering.. I also guess you have Netflix, own and iPhone, Sonos and a GoPro. The true stamps of lazy shoppers everywhere...

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At last a chance for me to watch something on Prime rather than my wife spending hours on all those US series like Sleepy Hollow ( I'm sure they're very good and all that, but they just go on forever ).

    There is one thing in favour of the Jeremy Clarkson persona - its not Chris Evans.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Go

      its not Chris Evans

      If today's news stories are to be believed Evans' co-host is Jenson Button.

  13. PhilipN Silver badge

    "smart TV. Ironic, isn't it?”

    Not what you meant, James, but "smart" + "tv" is supreme irony.

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