The Grand Tour finale: Clarkson, Hammond and May’s time had come, and it was a dignified exit
The end of an era… but they all come to an end eventually
The final episode of The Grand Tour — and the final on-screen outing for the trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May — is a poignant and fitting tribute to one of the greatest on-screen alchemies of all time, but there are several moments in it that suggest this is absolutely the right time for the trio to be walking away.
The first is a pretence about how the three men, now aged 64, 54 and 61 years respectively, were told to make the final episode an important one by driving electric cars around the M25 until they ran out of power; instead they had supposedly defied producer Andy Wilman’s edict and headed to Zimbabwe to drive classic cars they always wanted to own.
Of course, this was one of the series’ scripted defiances, played for laughs. And it will be funny to people who have drunk the anti-EV Kool-Aid, but the fact is most people these days are either indifferent to what powers their car or positively embracing the switch to electric power. For those who haven’t yet done so it’s a case of when, not if, and we should not assume that fans of the show have the same take on EVs as Clarkson.
The idea that to be a “car person” you can only love the type that burn dinosaur soup has long since been kicked into touch. I’m a petrolhead and the EV equivalent. I just like cars, and cars are about more than what powers them; they’re about the journeys. And surely, if The Grand Tour — and Top Gear before it — have proved anything, it’s this exact point.
The second is another supposedly humorous section in which Wilman has “discovered” their disobedience and arranged for the traditionally embarrassing back-up car to be delivered to them, in the likely event that one of their own vehicles breaks down. The vehicle chosen is a Volkswagen New Beetle – the ones that were introduced in 1997, catching the beginning of a wave of nostalgia for classic cars, and a precursor to the New Mini (2000) and New Fiat 500 (2007).
The comedy is supposed to come from the fact that these New Beetles are universally disliked, and it’s fair to say that they were considered a bit naff, with their chintzy dash-mounted flower vases and faux-classic styling, and they weren’t considered that fun to drive, either, despite being based on the Mk.4 Golf.
But they certainly weren’t panned by motoring writers — it was more indifference – and in recent times have been gaining a certain kudos, it seems. I’ve noticed quite a few on the roads in the past year or so, and the design seems to be ageing rather well. As another motoring writer pointed out to me, these New Beetles now have a following among young motorists, who appreciate the fact that VW at least attempted to make a car that stood out.
It's weird that the folks at The Grand Tour decided to destroy a "new" Beetle in #OneForTheRoad; just recently I've seen loads on the road and I was beginning to have a rethink about them. Quite an interesting design, I reckon. Perhaps, if Clarkson, Hammond and May hate them, they are now cool?
— Will Dron (@wdron.bsky.social) September 13, 2024 at 9:26 AM
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This is something Clarkson, Wilman et al have clearly not noticed, and so when they show the car being sent off a Zimbabwean cliff to its dramatic and violent destruction, it’s played for laughs. But only those who’re similarly out of touch will be giggling away.
At this point you may think I hated The Grand Tour finale. I didn’t, I loved it. And I love what these three men — and the many, many production staff — have created for us over the last 22 years. It’s been a heady concoction, one which may never be reproduced as satisfactorily. It has provided me with many belly laughs, and when Clarkson says at the end of One For The Road, as the final episode is called, that he hopes we have been entertained… we have. Very much so. Honestly, I’m in awe of what they have done.
But it’s most definitely time for it to come to an end. Clarkson makes it explicitly clear in the show, as he has in numerous articles and interviews (including one of my own) that he has no time for electric cars (Hyundai Ioniq 5 N excepted, perhaps) — “They’re white goods,” he says. Hammond and May play along, but do they really believe it? We know Hammond has owned a Tesla Model X and Mercedes EQS, and May owns a hydrogen fuel cell car… which is powered by electricity, ultimately. However, they must keep up the pretence that they find EV-bashing funny, as that’s The Grand Tour’s schtick.
And so the three men peddle the same tone one more time, and with great success. It’s most certainly a poignant ending to their collaboration, ending up back where they started on these adventure films, in Botswana, and with a final shot showing Clarkson unplugging his lapel mic — as close to a mic drop as we could hope for.
Perhaps my favourite — and most heart-wrenching — moment was James May talking about the fact that he has used the same satchel for every road trip film he’s been on, and only for those road trip films. Now, when he opens the cupboard in which he keeps his bags, he’ll see it and it’ll be a reminder of those adventures.
For us fans (and yes, I really do consider myself a fan), we will always have the films themselves — they’ll exist forever. But the idea that we’ll never see another one involving Clarkson, Hammond and May does bring a lump to the throat.
And yet clearly the show was no longer in touch with the times. The world moves forward, opinions change and, ultimately, those who cling to the past cannot stop the future. The Grand Tour era in its current form is over, and it’s most definitely the right time for the show to go the way of the dinosaurs itself. But it will be missed. Farewell, old friend.
Will Dron is the editor of Driving.co.uk.
Top image: Amazon MGM Studios
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