The Grand Tour Is Back: Can the New Hosts Replace Clarkson, Hammond and May?

Updated: 4 September 2026

For more than two decades, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were one of the most recognisable presenting trios in motoring television.

First came Top Gear. Then came The Grand Tour.

Now, for the first time, someone else has the keys.

The Grand Tour returns to Prime Video today, 4 September 2026, with an entirely new presenting line-up: Francis Bourgeois, James Engelsman and Thomas Holland.

All six episodes of the new series are being released together, taking the presenters across locations including Angola, Malaysia and California as Amazon attempts something few would envy: continuing The Grand Tour without Clarkson, Hammond and May at the centre of it. (About Amazon)

So, who are the new presenters? Do Clarkson, Hammond and May return? And perhaps most importantly:

Can The Grand Tour actually work without the three men who made it famous?

The Grand Tour Has Officially Entered a New Era

When Clarkson, Hammond and May finished their final Grand Tour adventure in 2024, many viewers understandably assumed that was the end.

The trio’s partnership had lasted more than 20 years across Top Gear and The Grand Tour, making separating the programme from its presenters particularly difficult.

Amazon, however, wasn’t ready to park the franchise.

Earlier this year, Prime Video announced that The Grand Tour would return with three new presenters:

Francis Bourgeois

James Engelsman

Thomas Holland

The new trio recently attended the show’s world premiere in London before the six-part series arrived on Prime Video today. (vergemagazine.co.uk)

And Amazon hasn’t simply recruited three traditional television presenters.

Its choices suggest it wants The Grand Tour to appeal to a new generation of automotive fans.

Who Is Francis Bourgeois?

Francis Bourgeois might initially seem like an unusual choice for one of Britain’s biggest motoring programmes.

He became famous online for his enthusiasm for trains, with videos documenting locomotives, railways and engineering attracting a huge following on social media. But there’s another side to Bourgeois.

He’s also a genuine petrolhead.

Prime Video describes him as a “trainspotter-turned-petrolhead”, and the new series gives him an opportunity to bring the enthusiasm that made his railway videos successful into the automotive world. (About Amazon)

His personality is also substantially different from Clarkson’s.

Where Clarkson’s style was loud, argumentative and intentionally provocative, Bourgeois brings a more enthusiastic and eccentric approach. Whether existing Grand Tour fans embrace that difference could be one of the biggest factors determining whether the reboot works.

Who Are James Engelsman and Thomas Holland?

The other two names may already be extremely familiar to serious car enthusiasts.

James Engelsman and Thomas Holland are the creators and presenters behind Throttle House, the hugely successful automotive YouTube channel.

Their content covers everything from performance-car reviews to comparisons, challenges and automotive entertainment.

That experience makes their appointment particularly interesting. Rather than simply hiring celebrities who happen to like cars, Amazon has recruited two presenters who have already demonstrated that they can build a large automotive audience. The move also reflects how dramatically car media has changed.

Twenty years ago, television programmes such as Top Gear were arguably the dominant form of automotive entertainment. Today, millions of enthusiasts get their car content from:

YouTube

TikTok

Instagram

Podcasts

Independent automotive creators

Bringing established digital creators into The Grand

Tour therefore makes a lot of sense.

Are Clarkson, Hammond and May in the New Grand Tour?

Yes — but they’re no longer the main presenters.

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May make guest appearances as part of the transition to the new era of the programme.

Executive producer Andy Wilman previously confirmed that all three would appear, providing something of a symbolic passing of the baton to the new team. (The Independent)

The opening of the new series also acknowledges the programme’s history rather than pretending the previous presenters never existed.

Trying to launch a new Grand Tour while completely ignoring Clarkson, Hammond and May would have risked alienating precisely the audience Amazon needs to convince.

Interestingly, the original presenters appear to have been supportive of their replacements. The new hosts have spoken publicly about receiving advice and encouragement from the former trio ahead of taking over the programme. (The Independent)

What Happens in the New Grand Tour?

Amazon appears to have resisted the temptation to completely reinvent the programme.

The essential recipe remains familiar:

interesting cars + ridiculous challenges + international adventures + three presenters arguing about them.

Across the six episodes, Francis, James and Thomas travel through several countries and tackle very different automotive challenges. Prime Video has highlighted adventures involving the Angolan desert, Malaysia’s car culture and high-performance machinery in California. (About Amazon)

The new series also includes extravagant automotive set pieces in the tradition viewers would expect from The Grand Tour. And there’s another familiar face for motoring fans: former Formula One world champion Jenson Button appears during the series. (The Independent)

So although the presenters have changed, Amazon clearly isn’t transforming The Grand Tour into a conventional car-review programme. It is still supposed to be entertainment first.

What Are the Early Reviews Saying?

This is where things get interesting. Early reviews have been mixed rather than universally positive or negative.

The Times gave the new series three stars, arguing that the fresh trio brings new energy to the format and that choosing genuine automotive enthusiasts rather than conventional celebrity presenters was a sensible decision. (The Times)

The Financial Times also awarded it three stars, praising elements of the production but questioning whether the new presenting dynamic can recreate the intensity that made the Clarkson era so distinctive. (Financial Times)

The Guardian was noticeably more sceptical.

Its review suggests the new presenters have a gentler dynamic and questions whether the long-running Grand Tour formula itself needs greater reinvention rather than simply a new set of faces. (The Guardian)

And that may ultimately be the biggest issue facing the programme.

Can Anyone Really Replace Clarkson, Hammond and May?

Probably not.

But perhaps that’s the wrong question. Clarkson, Hammond and May weren’t successful simply because they were three men talking about cars.

Their appeal came from their chemistry. After decades working together, viewers knew what roles each presenter would play.

Clarkson would come up with something outrageous.

Hammond would enthusiastically attempt something dangerous.

May would explain why both of them were idiots.

Trying to recreate that combination with three younger presenters would almost certainly feel artificial.

The smartest thing Francis Bourgeois, James Engelsman and Thomas Holland can therefore do is not try to become Clarkson, Hammond and May.

They need their own chemistry.

And that takes time.

The first episodes of the original Top Gear partnership didn’t arrive with two decades of shared jokes, adventures and disasters behind them either.

If Amazon gives the new trio enough time to develop their own identity, The Grand Tour could become something different rather than simply an imitation of what came before.

The Choice of Presenters Could Actually Be Very Clever

There’s another reason Amazon’s decision is interesting. The new presenters represent the way automotive media is changing. James and Thomas come directly from YouTube. Francis built his audience through social media.

They’re entering television from the opposite direction to the generation before them.

Rather than:

TV personality → internet following

It’s now:

internet creator → major television programme

That’s a significant shift.

Automotive YouTube channels can now attract audiences comparable with traditional motoring publications, while short-form platforms have introduced millions of younger viewers to cars.

Amazon may therefore be trying to build The Grand Tour for where automotive media is going, rather than where it has been.

Whether traditional Grand Tour viewers agree is another matter.

There Couldn’t Be a More Interesting Time for Motoring TV

The timing of The Grand Tour’s return is particularly interesting because another enormous automotive television brand is preparing its own comeback.

Top Gear is also expected to return.

That raises the possibility of The Grand Tour and Top Gear entering completely new eras at roughly the same time, both attempting to discover what mainstream motoring entertainment should look like without the presenters most closely associated with their peak years. (The Guardian)

For car enthusiasts, that’s potentially very good news.

YouTube hasn’t killed automotive television.

Instead, the two worlds increasingly seem to be merging.

Is the New Grand Tour Worth Watching?

If you’re expecting Clarkson, Hammond and May 2.0, you’ll probably be disappointed.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean the programme won’t work.

The production scale remains enormous.

The cars remain interesting.

The locations remain spectacular.

And importantly, Amazon has selected presenters who appear to genuinely care about cars. The biggest unknown is chemistry. That cannot really be manufactured, and it can’t necessarily be judged from one episode. Clarkson, Hammond and May had more than 20 years to build the relationship audiences eventually became attached to.

Francis, James and Thomas are starting from zero.

Giving them the opportunity to create something of their own seems considerably more interesting than watching three presenters attempt to impersonate their predecessors.

Where Can You Watch The Grand Tour 2026?

The new series of The Grand Tour is available exclusively through Prime Video from 4 September 2026.

There are six episodes, with all six released together rather than weekly. (About Amazon)

That means viewers can watch the entire new series immediately.

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Will There Be Another Series?

Nothing is guaranteed until Amazon formally commissions more episodes, but there are already encouraging signs. Executive producer Andy Wilman has spoken positively about the new presenters, and reports this week indicate that discussions around another series are already taking place. (The Independent)

Ultimately, though, the reaction to this first six-episode run will matter.

Amazon hasn’t simply relaunched a television programme.

It has inherited one of the biggest debates in British motoring entertainment:

Can The Grand Tour exist without Clarkson, Hammond and May?

We’re finally about to find out.

Our View

Replacing Clarkson, Hammond and May was always going to be almost impossible.

So we think the success of the new Grand Tour shouldn’t be judged on whether Francis Bourgeois, James Engelsman and Thomas Holland can recreate the old trio.

They shouldn’t try to.

What matters is whether they can make people care about watching three enthusiasts travel the world doing ridiculous things with cars again.

If they can develop their own chemistry while retaining the scale and automotive focus that made The Grand Tour successful, the show could have a future.

If it constantly feels like everyone is waiting for Clarkson to walk back through the door, it probably won’t.

Either way, it’s going to be fascinating to watch.

What Do You Think?

For some viewers, The Grand Tour will always mean Clarkson, Hammond and May.

Others may be ready to give a completely new generation a chance.

A Personal Thank You to Clarkson, Hammond and May

For me, Clarkson, Hammond and May were much more than three presenters on a car show. Like a lot of people my age, I grew up watching them. Top Gear was one of those programmes you genuinely looked forward to — the challenges, the road trips, the terrible cars and the constant arguing. Some of those episodes still bring back memories of a completely different time in life.

Being someone who has always had a real interest in cars makes their impact even more special. They somehow made motoring entertaining even for people who weren’t particularly interested in cars, and over the years their chemistry became the real reason many of us kept watching. It felt less like watching three presenters and more like watching three mates being given a ridiculous budget to travel the world and cause chaos.

Seeing somebody else take over The Grand Tour will definitely feel strange. I hope the new presenters make the show their own, but Clarkson, Hammond and May will be almost impossible to replace. For an entire generation, they weren’t just part of British motoring television — they were part of growing up.

What’s your favourite Clarkson, Hammond and May memory? And will you be giving the new Grand Tour a chance?