The Grand Tour will return on July 30, Amazon Prime Video has announced, with a new trailer for “The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown”, the third feature-length special part of The Grand Tour season 4. In it, the former Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May get in classic American cars and take off for Scotland. For those wondering why they aren’t in a more non-British exotic place — such as Cambodia/ Vietnam for episode 1, or Madagascar for episode 2 — that’s because The Grand Tour’s Scotland special was shot filmed during the COVID-19 lockdown. Hence the pun “Lochdown” in the title, referencing the Irish word for lake — and the famous Loch Ness.
Still, May promises “the most beautiful drive we have ever done” in the two-and-a-half-minute long trailer for The Grand Tour season 4 episode 3 “Lochdown”. And you can’t argue with that, given the sneak peek at the vistas that we see in The Grand Tour Scotland special trailer. Of course, things are not going to be smooth sailing. Their classic (read: old) cars will naturally give them a lot of trouble, be it boiling engines or the struggles of getting out of them. Or just even basic turning abilities. The “Lochdown” trailer reveals that Clarkson, Hammond, and May will also keep switching cars throughout the new The Grand Tour episode.
And what are they up to? As Clarkson says in The Grand Tour Scotland special trailer, they have to build a bridge to …somewhere in Outer Hebrides. The “Lochdown” trailer ends with May’s car stuck on said bridge, with Clarkson about to use his patented use-all-the-power strategy to give him a push. You know, as well as I do, how’s that going to go. Elsewhere, there’s Hammond crashing his RV (expected), playing pranks on someone else’s RV (what can go wrong?), and being applauded by Clarkson, May, and the masked crew for doing something stupid, it seems.
After airing 38 episodes across three seasons between 2016 and 2019, The Grand Tour has really slowed down its production as it has moved away from the hybrid studio and outdoors format. Amazon has expanded its deal with the trio, which includes new solo shows (Our Man in Japan for May, Clarkson’s Farm for Clarkson, and The Great Escapists for Hammond). Starting with season 4, The Grand Tour is now only about feature-length specials. The first of them, “Seamen” aired in December 2019, followed by the second “A Massive Hunt” in December 2020.
Here’s the official synopsis for The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown from Amazon:
Confined to the UK by Covid, Jeremy, Richard and James embark on a Lockdown Special to celebrate the great 70s American cars they saw in TV shows as kids, and to find out just why it was, given their Dads were all driving terrible Austin Allegros, that these amazing vehicles never took off in Britain.
At the wheel of a Cadillac Coupe De Ville as driven by Elvis, a Lincoln Continental as driven by Jock Ewing of Dallas fame, and a Buick Riviera as piloted by Clint Eastwood, the three hosts take their iconic Detroit machines on a road trip across the stunning scenery of Scotland. And even though they are on home turf this lockdown journey turns out to be one of their funniest, most action packed and most charming adventures in years.
Along the way they cause chaos on the ancient streets of Edinburgh, enjoy a hilarious, tyre torturing, high octane showdown with Abbie on the racetrack, before heading off to stage an epic Cold War shootout between the worst Soviet and American cars ever made. They also find themselves homeless in the Highlands after a series of housing-based crash bang wallop catastrophes, but still find time to use classic muscle cars to put an infamous Pizza Express journey to the test. After receiving a text from Mr Wilman, Richard, James and Jeremy modify their cars and head to the Outer Hebrides for one of their toughest challenges yet. At the far reaches of Scotland, they must build a homemade floating bridge across the Hebridean sea, capable of supporting them and their massive cars on a perilous journey to their final destination.
The Grand Tour Presents: Lochdown premieres July 30 on Prime Video worldwide. The previous episode released a day early so I’d keep an eye on the app from July 29.
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