Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May’s future friendship
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are friends off screen too
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are reported to have ended their TV partnership. So what does this mean for the future of their friendship?
MailOnline were the first to report that the friends have agreed to dissolve their production company W. Chump and Sons as seen in papers filed on Companies House on 11 July. They appointed a voluntary liquidator, declared solvency and come up with a "special resolution to wind up".
But the trio's friendship and working relationship stretches back 20 years. When Clarkson was sacked for punching the Top Gear producer in 2015, Hammond and May left with him saying: "We come as a package."
They went onto make rival car show The Grand Tour with Prime Video in 2016. However, the three friends have decided to call it quits on the show with their last special hitting the streaming service this September. Clarkson remarked it was becoming more difficult when "you’re unfit and fat and old".
The Grand Tour final special will air in the autumn. It was filmed in Zimbabwe in September 2023 but they have kept quiet about the details of the show. Clarkson tweeted in October: "My profound thanks to the people and government of Zimbabwe for helping to make a very special Grand Tour special, very special. We absolutely adored everything about your country. Apart from the pot holes maybe."
While it looks like their TV partnership is coming to an end, we take a look at their friendship and its future.
Clarkson, Hammond and May's strong friendship
It's clear that Clarkson, Hammond and May have a very special friendship that transcends their time on screen and working together. There were times in their lives where they were "never apart".
Hammond revealed their friendship was built on strong foundations through shared experiences, including supporting each other when it came to injury and illness. He told The Radio Times earlier this year: "We know each other very well, and it’s not founded on seeing one another in an office every day or in the pub at weekends. It’s seeing one another in incredible places, grappling with illness and injury."
Also, Hammond said the three of them were "never apart" back in the day when they were filming 14 shows a year. He told Yahoo: "We've had an influence on each other because we spend an immense amount of time together when we're travelling, when we're filming. People often ask, 'do you hang out a lot outside of work?' well, back in the day, when we were making 14 shows a year, sometimes more on Top Gear, we never were apart, so yeah we have learned from each other."
May explained the depth of their friendship came from working together "intensively" on the specials as they would do everything together, except sleep.
He told Yahoo earlier this year: "When we're together making our specials and things it's a pretty intensive, completely immersive experience apart from when we're actually asleep, which we tend to do separately. The rest of the time we're together and in each other's pockets, and getting on each other's nerves and in each other's hair. So yeah, I think I know them pretty well."
Will Clarkson and May exchange pub tips?
While they may not be planning to work together on more TV, May may be able to offer his friend Clarkson some advice with his latest venture. May has been in the pub business since 2020 when he became the part owner of the Royal Oak in Swallowcliffe, Wiltshire.
Now Clarkson has bought a Cotswolds pub for less than £1m which we expect will feature in his successful Prime Video series Clarkson's Farm, that chronicles his journey to becoming a farmer and the day-to-day life of Diddly Squat farm.
Earlier this year, May shared the secrets to a successful pub. He told The Daily Mail earlier this year: "When we opened the Royal Oak, we made a decision that there would not be a television. Then people asked if they could watch the Women's World Cup and the Rugby World Cup. So, we changed our mind. Although there is no television in the background. It is in the bar for major events and that's it."
He added: "We are a restaurant, if I'm entirely honest. We take pride that our chef sources 90 per cent of his produce from within 15 miles - which makes us somewhat like a farm shop - something which Clarkson has more experience with."
It seems Clarkson is already taking May's advice for his new pub The Windmill as he has banned noisy televisions (as well as confusing toilet signs). He wrote in The Sunday Times of his new venture: "I just needed the pub where all this could happen. And then, after I'd looked at about 14,000, I found just the place."
We can see the three of them reuniting in either May or Clarkson's pubs, or perhaps both.
