Amazon paid £160 million for former Top Gear trio Jeremy Clarkson, Richard

Jeremy Clarkson, the controversial former host of the wildly popular BBC motoring show “Top Gear“, has signed a deal for a new vehicle show with Amazon Instant Video, along with his two former co-presenters.

Jeremy ‘Clarkson aka Jezz, James May aka Captain Slow and Richard Hammond aka Hamster have found a new job and they will soon be seen as a trio once again. “Our approach is to give programmme makers creative freedom to be innovative and make the shows they want to make”.

“Customers told us they wanted to see the team back on screen, and we are excited to make that happen”.

“I feel like I’ve climbed out of a bi-plane and into a spaceship“, commented Clarkson himself.

“Top Gear” has won a huge global following with its mix of vehicle tips, driving stunts and jokey banter.

“I can’t tell you how good it feels to get the chance to produce something from scratch”, he said.

“Millions of Prime members are already enjoying our ground-breaking original shows”. Oh yes. I have already been there.

Clarkson is reuniting with Richard Hammond and James May for the show.

Amazon also resurrected hit British drama Ripper Street, starring Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks), Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones), Adam Rothenberg (The Divide) and MyAnna Buring (The Twilight Saga).

May joked: “We have become part of the new age of smart TV”.

It was thought that Netflix would be the host of what many people are calling “the new Top Gear” (to Chris Evans’ annoyance, I presume), but it seems the relatively new streaming service from Amazon has beaten them to the punch. Following the announcement on Thursday, many industry voices indicated that freedom from the demands of advertisers, as offered by the BBC and SVOD platforms like Amazon, was crucial for the show’s success, with the hosts known to trash-talk vehicle manufacturers. “Some say his Amazon Prime subscription fee is £1 a month, for tax purposes, and that sometimes buyers pay him for the postage and packaging”.