Promotional image for the series.
The first season of the Amazon Prime motoring show The Grand Tour, starring presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May alongside test driver Mike "The American" Skinner premiered on the 18th of November, 2016 and finished on the 2nd of February, 2017. It was the first of three seasons initially agreed upon during the trio's initial contract signing with the company, and would result in a second season being produced later that year, in addition to a third season the year after. It marked the trio's return to presenting a car program following Clarkson's dismissal from BBC's Top Gear in March 2015, and was backed by a heavy advertising campaign.
Episodes[]
| Episode | Synopsis | Tent Location | Track Test | CBC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Holy Trinity | The guys head to Portugal to test the 'holy trinity' of supercars - the P1, the LaFerrari, and the 918 Spyder - in a shootout at the Portimao Circuit. | Southern California, United States | BMW M2 | Jeremy Renner, Armie Hammer & Carol Vorderman |
| Operation Desert Stumble | In Jordan, the guys tackle a special forces challenge at a disused quarry. Also, May looks into the Motorsport "Spinning" | Johannesburg, South Africa | Aston Martin Vulcan | "Charlize Theron" |
| Opera, Arts and Donuts | The presenters head to Italy for a supercar road trip across the northern part of the country. Also, Clarkson finally pays for losing his bet at Portimao. | Whitby, England | None | Simon Pegg |
| Enviro-mental | The guys attempt to build cars entirely out of sustainable materials. | Whitby, England | Porsche 911 GT3 RS vs BMW M4 GTS | Jimmy Carr |
| Moroccan Roll | The presenters head to Morocco for a three-way sports car shootout, involving some stunning scenery, movie sets, and some livestock. Also, Hammond and May recreate the classic board game battleships with cars. | Rotterdam, Netherlands | None | Golden Earring |
| Happy Finnish Christmas | Hammond and Clarkson put the Ford Mustang and the Ford Focus RS head-to-head in Somerset while May relives the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari at the Le Mans endurance race of the 60s. Back at the tent, the guys give ideas for Christmas gifts for motoring enthusiasts. | Lapland, Finland | None | "Kimi Räikkönen" |
| The Beach (Buggy) Boys, Pt. 1 | (Namibia Special, Pt. 1) The guys head to Windhoek, Namibia for an epic journey across the deserts of Africa, including a trip through the eerily beautiful Skeleton Coast, to neighbouring Angola in three dune buggies. | None | None | None |
| The Beach (Buggy) Boys, Pt. 2 | (Namibia Special, Pt. 2) The guys continue their trek through the Namib desert, with serious accidents threatening the functionality of both Clarkson and Hammond's buggies. Along the way, the guys stop off in the Namibian bush to partake in rhino conservation efforts. | None | None | None |
| Berks to the Future | The trio look into different methods of electrical charging, Hammond builds a car that can survive a 'doomsday' scenario, and Clarkson sets about building a new kind of SUV. | Stuttgart, Germany | Honda NSX | "Nena" |
| Dumb Fight at the O.K. Coral | The presenters head to Barbados and attempt to build a coral reef out of used car shells. | Nashville, United States | Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio | Brian Johnson |
| Italian Lessons | The guys buy secondhand Maseratis and take them on a tour of Northern France, taking in a series of challenges along the way. | Loch Ness, Scotland | Fiat Abarth 124 Spider | Chris Hoy |
| (censored) to (censored) | The guys head off an road trip through Central Europe in exotic cars, taking in some of the most grown-up and not-at-all rude place names the region has to offer. | Loch Ness, Scotland | Lexus GS-F | Tim Burton |
| Past v Future | For the series finale, May and Clarkson pit their own cars against each other, Hammond learns how to drift professionally, before pitting the 918 Spyder against the Bugatti Veyron whilst May takes part in a sport called winching. | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | None | Daniel Ricciardo |
Production[]
As the show would not yet exist, pre-planning for The Grand Tour would have formed the original cut of Top Gear Series 23, with the Holy Trinity of supercars as one of the most fleshed-out ideas. Filming began in October 2015 at the Algarve Circuit in Portimao, Portugal, with the rest of the pre-recorded segments continuing through to the end of 2016.
Studio Segments[]
The first studio segments, for the show's second episode, were filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa in July 2016. The studio segments for the show's premiere episode, however, were filmed in September 2016 in the region of Southern California. The studio segments concluded on Dubai in December 2016.
Reception[]
After the airing of 'The Holy Trinity' in November, the show received almost universal praise from fans and critics alike. The show's IMDb page rated the series at 9.7 out of 10 at that time. However, this was almost immediately followed by 'Operation Desert Stumble' a week later, which as of 2019 remains the lowest rated episode of the series and quickly divided fans. The series went on to achieve an 8.2 rating for the whole series, indicating a positive reception overall.