London - Jeremy Clarkson couldn't resist a gibe at his old employer, the BBC, as he announced plans to reunite with his former Top Gear presenting colleagues and create a new car show for the internet giant Amazon.
“I feel like I've climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship,” said Clarkson, in a pointed reference to the BBC, which fired him earlier this year following a fracas with a member of the Top Gear staff.
Clarkson, along with James May and Richard Hammond, chose to align themselves with the retail and entertainment behemoth despite competition for their signatures from Netflix and ITV.
The Amazon deal was negotiated by Andy Wilman, for years the executive producer of Top Gear and the hidden power behind the most watched car show in the world. Wilman, like May and Hammond, parted company with the BBC in the wake of Clarkson's severance in March. The as yet untitled show is a major coup for Amazon and represents a marketing prize which will be offered exclusively to its Prime customers, who pay a £79 (R1563) subscription for an enhanced service.
CREATIVE FREEDOM
From 2016, the former Top Gear trio will join a roster of television talent on Amazon's Prime Video line-up, where producer Ridley Scott and actor Gael Garcia Bernal are among those already plying their trade.
Earlier this year Amazon won its first Golden Globe for the show Transparent, featuring a father-of-three who identifies as a woman. The show's writer, Jill Soloway has spoken of being “blown away” by the creative freedom given to her by the internet giant.
It is not clear whether the new Clarkson show will be made available to viewers week by week - similar to Amazon's British drama Ripper Street - or in a cache of shows which can be watched back-to-back, as was the case with Transparent.
Wilman said of the deal, in an interview with Radio Times: “They'll give us the freedom to make the programmes we want - and you know how we love that freedom. There's a budget to produce programmes of the quality we want and this is the future. No one telling us what we can and can't do, just us hopefully producing great programmes. It feels really liberating.”
He described the Amazon offer as the strongest and most intelligent that was made to the team and that the freedom from editorial controls was one of the most appealing factors. “That's a big one for us - we don't like interference, we don't need to be policed,” he told Broadcast magazine.
TOP GEAR REINVENTED
The BBC Radio 2 breakfast host Chris Evans has been chosen as the new lead presenter of Top Gear and has begun work on the next series. He has signed up Lisa Clark, the producer who worked with him on The Big Breakfast, to help him rebrand Top Gear. He said: “Lisa is as good as it gets when it comes to making big, important television shows.” Although the Amazon online show will not compete with Top Gear in scheduling terms, insiders have spoken of the great ambition of Wilman and his team. Coupled with the considerable financial backing of Jeff Bezos's company, the project puts great pressure on the BBC and Evans, who has already described the role as “the most challenging thing I have ever done in my career”.
The BBC is likely to respond with the announcement of Evans's co-presenters, with model Jodie Kidd and Formula 1 driver Jenson Button among the favourites to take the jobs.
With the previous incarnation of Top Gear having generated £150m (R2.96bn) a year in global sales, the financially-pressured BBC will be anxious to maintain that income by continuing to offer the world's premium motoring show.
The question is whether the personalities of the presenters are more valuable than the name and format of the programme.
“Customers told us they wanted to see the team back on screen, and we are excited to make that happen,” said Jay Marine, Vice President of Amazon Prime Video EU.
To critics who were pleased to see the back of Clarkson, Top Gear's tone was xenophobic and past its sell by date.
But James May suggested yesterday that the old presenting trio had had the last laugh. “We have become part of the new age of smart TV. Ironic, isn't it?” he said.
The Independent