Jeremy Clarkson swipes at rivals as fans hail The Grand Tour as 'better than Chris Evans' Top Gear'

Grand Tour: Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson, and James May train with Special Forces in Jordan for the Grand Tour
Amazon
Fiona Simpson18 November 2016

Fans hailed Jeremy Clarkson’s new motoring show a huge success as soon as the first episode was aired last night.

Clarkson marked the arrival of the highly-anticipated new show with an apparent swipe at rival programmes. Hours before the launch, the star wrote online: "Great news. Midnight tonight there's a drama by Reggie Yates on Channel 4.”

Fans were surprised to find the Grand Tour was available to watch half-an-hour earlier than planned on Amazon Prime on Thursday night.

Clarkson and co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond were due to debut their new project on the channel at midnight but fans were able to tune in at 11.30pm.

He tweeted just hours before the launch: “Great news. Midnight tonight there's a drama by Reggie Yates on Channel 4.”

The post appeared to refer to a showing of Mr Yates's short film Road Kill - the story of Den, a middle-aged convict from inner-city London.

The presenter, who launched the new show after being sacked from the BBC, made several backhanded jokes at the expense of his former bosses.

The Grand Tour Debut Episode

1/8

Speaking to fans in a desert in the US, he said: “It’s very unlikely I’m going to be fired now because we’re on the internet, which means I could pleasure a horse.”

Richard Hammond shows off his doomsday-proof VW campervan built for the Grand Tour
Amazon

He later added: “This is our new travelling studio tent.

“We’re going to be roaming the world in it, we’re going to be like gypsies, only the cars we drive are going to be insured.”

To which Hammond replied: “Stop saying things that are going to get us fired.”

Fans described the Grand Tour as “amazing” and an “improved Top Gear”.

One viewer, known as Mark, tweeted: “Great episode of @thegrandtour amazing job guys! Can we have episode 2 now?”

Craig Webster added: “Fantastic start and glad to see the team have found an extra gear and improved the show.”

Nathan wrote: “Waking up on a Friday morning to @thegrandtour is what only dreams are made of! #TheGrandTour”

The episode opened with a miserable Clarkson appearing to leave BBC's Broadcasting House in London, as radio bulletins of his sacking from the broadcaster are played in the background.

Action man Jeremy Clarkson rolls around in the sand
Amazon

He then escaped a rainy UK to the sun-drenched USA where he was seen hitting the open road in a Mustang.

His co-hosts then appear behind him in matching motors, much to the delight of viewers.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in