Richard Hammond said he is getting ready to ‘wake up and cry every day’ as he prepares to bid goodbye to his partnership with Jeremy Clarkson and James May.
The adventurous trio will release The Grand Tour: One for the Road, on September 13, which will conclude the former Top Gear co-hosts’ 21 year partnership.
Speaking on Monday’s This Morning ahead of the final episode, Richard admitted he was ‘struggling to get his head around’ the end.
Joining hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, he recalled his career on Top Gear and said: ‘It went berserk and we didn’t know it would go out of control. It feels really weird I can’t get my head round it.
‘I’ve been doing this for 22 years because of that partnership. I’ll be forever grateful to Jeremy and James.’
Richard Hammond said he is getting ready to ‘wake up and cry every day’ as he prepares to bid goodbye to his partnership with Jeremy Clarkson and James May
Richard continued: ‘It’s not sunk in yet. I reckon six months from now I’ll wake up every morning and cry.
‘When I got the job, I was 31, I burst out crying when they called. I said to my wife, “this is going to change everything,” and it did.’
Prime Video has unveiled a first look at the final episode of The Grand Tour: One For The Road.
The first look snaps reveal emotional Grand Tour stars Jeremy, 64, Richard, 54, and James, 61, uniting for one last time and sharing their last moments together after gracing television screens as a trio for the last 22 years.
In their last adventure, viewers can expect to see Jeremy, Richard, and James ignore Mr Wilman’s instructions and head to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own.
The trio will embark on a stunning road trip through beautiful, challenging landscapes in a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag before finishing the episode with an emotional ending on a strangely familiar island.
In one first look snap, the trio are spotted giggling around a campfire as they sip on a couple of beers and enjoy a relaxing break next to a stunning lake.
In another snap, the trio cut smart casual figures as they pose up a storm with their vintage cars.
The adventurous trio will release The Grand Tour: One for the Road, on September 13, which will conclude the former Top Gear co-hosts’ 21 year partnership
Richard admitted: It feels really weird I can’t get my head round it. ‘I’ve been doing this for 22 years because of that partnership. I’ll be forever grateful to Jeremy and James’
While a third snap shows Jeremy having a bit of a giggle with Richard as they all take a break from driving.
Long-time producer Andy Wilman told the Edinburgh TV Festival that filming the episode was ‘quite weepy’ and ‘quite heart-stringy’.
Asked why the trio had decided to bring to a close the global phenomenon, Wilman said: ‘We are getting to the point where enough is enough. On top of that, there is the sense that we want to end things on our own terms. It had to come to an end and we wanted to be the ones who called it.’
They shot the last episode in September last year. It will see the hosts return to Kubu Island, Botswana, which was the location of their first ever special. Wilman described the episode as “deliberately gentle” as the three stars wanted to go back to basics.
He said: ‘They wanted to go “unplugged”. We wanted to go back to 2005, leave the dynamite at home, we will go with s*** old cars. They give you more TV than modern new cars, they give you more stories, more laughs. So they wanted evocative cars that they adore and they wanted to be in Africa. It is the favourite continent we ever filmed in.’
The producer added: ‘Their camaraderie is next level. I think that you can see that they know this is the last time they will do this.’
Prime Video has unveiled a first look at the final episode of The Grand Tour: One For The Road
In their last adventure, viewers can expect to see Jeremy, Richard, and James ignore Mr Wilman’s instructions and head to Zimbabwe in three cars they’ve always wanted to own
Thr trio drive three cars they’ve always wanted to own, a Lancia Montecarlo, a Ford Capri 3-litre, and a Triumph Stag,
Driving behind the wheel of his car in a first look clip, Clarkson, 64, looks down to the camera, and emotionally says: ‘So for the last time, here we go.’
Slides on the screen read: ‘After 22 years, the end has finally come.’
The Grand Tour: One For The Road will launch exclusively on Prime Video in over 240 countries on 13 September.