The latest episode of The Grand Tour Presents has finally got a release date – and a full-length trailer, too.
The trusty trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond will all return to Amazon Prime Video for more vehicular antics on 30 July. This time around, they’ll be embarking on an adventure through the Scottish Highlands.
Called Lochdown – get it? – the special was filmed in 2020 amid the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which limited the show’s ability to shoot abroad. It will mark the third special in The Grand Tour’s fourth season, following the release of A Massive Hunt in December 2020.
Och aye the new trailer for The Grand Tour Presents... #Lochdown is here pic.twitter.com/0eobci0wpLJuly 15, 2021
From what we can tell, the hosts will be driving classic American cars from Edinburgh to the Hebrides, so expect a Route 66-style road trip. In the trailer, James May says it “promises to be the most beautiful drive [they’ve] ever done.”
May also told BT earlier this year that the show’s producers deemed it "better to film in the UK and deliver regularly than promise the earth and not deliver anything,” which explains the decision to limit this latest episode’s adventure to within British borders.
Still, a domestic setting doesn’t mean a familiar one, especially given Amazon Prime’s global audience. "If you're watching The Grand Tour from Sri Lanka, Scotland is as exotic and beautiful as Sri Lanka is from Scotland, so there's always going to be a large part of the audience which finds anywhere in the world fascinating," May added.
Where to next?
As for The Grand Tour’s intended release schedule, the global pandemic put an engine-breaking spanner in the works.
Original plans to film in Russia – for a special following A Massive Hunt – were put on hold last year, and still remain so in 2021. The team have been spotted filming in Wales, though, as well as in parts of England like Warwickshire, so it figures that production has re-oriented towards successive episodes shot in the UK.
Yes, the next Special will land later this year.Yes, it’s filmed in Madagascar and yes, there will be cars.Yes, we wanted to go to Russia.No, we couldn’t (we all know why).Yes, we will try again.No, we don’t know when.Yes, we will keep you updated.#TheGrandTourJuly 7, 2020
Those reports match up with further comments made by May earlier this year: “In the short term, we might have to reduce our travel ambitions, and we’ll have a better chance of [filming]. The Grand Tour may become a little more domestic. But it will still be us three which is the important thing. And cars."
Hopefully we'll get a more regular release schedule, then, especially given the year-long gap between episodes one and two of the show's fourth season. Could we see another UK-based special also drop in 2021 following Lochdown’s July 30 arrival date? We're not that optimistic, but we doubt we'll have to wait another year to see the results of that project materialize.
Until then, though, there’s plenty of content from the presenting trio to enjoy elsewhere. You can watch Richard Hammond attempt to survive on a desert island in The Great Escapists, James May try his hand at cooking in James May: Oh Cook! and Jeremy Clarkson farming in... Jeremy Clarkson's Farm.
Amazon Prime Video has variety on its side, at least.
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