Much like many popular shows from across the world, The Grand Tour has been hit with a major production delay due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, star Jeremy Clarkson has been able to confirm some huge details about the Amazon Prime series’ next episodes.
As well as forcing non-key workers to stay indoors and work from home, the ongoing coronavirus crisis has thrown uncertainty on the entertainment industry.
Just one feature-length episode of The Grand Tour’s fourth season has aired so far, as the most recent instalment opts for a different format.
Initially set to air four longer specials, so far the gang of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have embarked on just the one adventure so far.
Titled Seamen, the first episode of the travel show saw the trio attempt to travel from Cambodia to Vietnam across the Mekong Delta using three different boats.
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The episode aired on December 13 2019, and The Grand Tour fans have been hungry for more content from Top Gear’s spiritual successor ever since.
Jeremy Clarkson recently sat down with the DriveTribe podcast crew on YouTube, and revealed their planned trip to Russia for the season’s third episode had been cancelled.
This disappointing news was confirmed as Jeremy talked alongside producer Andy Wilman on a live-streamed Q&A on DriveTribe’s channel.
The Grand Tour star said: “The only real problem we had is we were supposed to have gone to Russia two weeks ago to film the next one but that really wasn’t possible – well it might have been possible to get there but it sure as hell wouldn’t have been possible to get back.”
During DriveTribe’s Q&A, the pair stunned live audiences when they revealed episode two is currently comprised of over 1,000 hours of footage that need to be edited down into a single instalment.
Andy continued: “All that stuff that comes back, it takes five weeks for it to all go into the machines, it’s all technical s**t don’t ask me.”
Despite the original Top Gear trio’s adventure in Madagascar has concluded, editing the camera footage is a massive undertaking, and The Grand Tour fans were already anticipating a lengthy wait for the next episode.
The producer continued: “It takes five weeks before the editor can even access it. Then there’s five weeks of him breaking it down, so he’s got to go through everything you lot say – and then he’s got to match up all the cameras. That’s another five weeks.”
“Then there’s three more months of shaping it because, as you know, we set off without a script. Then there’s all the back and forth and that’s before Amazon gets it. They keep it for five weeks.”
However, Jeremy was more optimistic about the Madagascar special, and added: “Well, I think there’s a little bit of good news, you and I are in the final strokes of Madagascar.”
Unfortunately, it may be some time before The Grand Tour can set off on more globe-trotting adventures, but at least the second episode will be available soon.
The Grand Tour season 4 returns to Amazon Prime Video in 2020.