Daily Mail: Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond to leave The Grand Tour https://

Story from Daily Mail:

Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond are set to leave The Grand Tour, bringing an end to a 20-year-long partnership.

The former Top Gear presenters have decided to move on from the show seven years after it was launched on Amazon's Prime Video, it is claimed.

An insider told the Sun that the 'surprising' decision 'very much marks the end of an era for the three presenters', who have worked together since 2003.

They added that although the show is one of the streaming platform's most watched shows 'the guys have made no bones about the fact they’re all advancing in years and they have lots of other projects to pursue.'

The source told the publication that the broadcasters 'felt like the time was right and wanted to go out on a high when the show remained popular'.

Despite their departures MailOnline understands the show itself might yet continue, with Prime Video exploring options on how to move forward without the trio - although it is believed the trio are not against new presenters being hired.

Fans of the show will still have some more helpings of The Grand Tour to look forward to - two special episodes which will follow Clarkson, May and Hammond to Mauritania and Zimbabwe are set to be released next year.

The trio also have other projects in the pipeline - Clarkson recently filmed a third season of Clarkson's Farm and a fourth is in the pipeline, while May has another set of Our Man In... travelogues to be released.

Earlier this week Clarkson also shared a health update after revealing he was at a 'double risk' of getting dementia. He claimed he had been told by his doctor he needs hearing aids after severe hearing loss, something that has close links with the onset of dementia.

By moving on from the programme it would bring together an extremely successful association between Clarkson, aged 63, May, aged 60, and Hammond, aged 52, stretching back 20 years.

The group had shot to superstardom after taking over BBC's Top Gear, turning it from a niche car programme into one of the corporation's hottest properties and selling spin-offs around the world.

Their time on the show wasn't without controversy.

Richard Hammond was nearly killed when he was involved in a 320mph crash while filming a stunt for the show, with the impact leaving him in a coma for two weeks and 'Hamster' himself admitting he fears getting early onset dementia as a result.

The trio also became the focus of a number of racism rows, with the ambassador for Mexico complaining when his people were branded 'lazy', 'feckless' and 'flatulent' on the show, sparking an apology from the BBC.

They were also hounded out of Argentina by an angry mob after a row over a number plate used while filming the series. Officials claimed that H982 FKL on a Porche - which was registered in May 1991 - was a reference to the 1982 Falklands War.

That same year, Ofcom ruled that there had been a breach of the broadcasting code by including an offensive racial term during the programme's Burma Special.

They dramatically left the programme in 2015 after Clarkson was sacked by the channel following a bust-up with producers, before returning on The Grand Tour in 2016.

Since then they have hosted 44 episodes of the series, which has taken them around the world on specials to Cambodia and Vietnam, Reunion and Madagascar, Scandinavia, and eastern Europe.

It comes weeks after their former bosses at the BBC announced Top Gear, which turned the trio into superstars, was being axed in the aftermath of a horrific crash involving presenter Andrew Flintoff.

The show's production has been halted since host Flintoff, 45, was taken to hospital in December 2022 after being badly hurt in an accident at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey.

Following the crash, the BBC announced that it would pause production on the show, co-presented by Take Me Out host Paddy McGuinness and automotive journalist Chris Harris, as it was felt it would be 'inappropriate', adding there would be a health and safety review.

McGuinness later thanked fans 'for the love' in a 'goodbye' message.

And after the BBC's announcement to 'rest' the show for the foreseeable future, Paddy posted a gallery of images on Instagram starting with a picture of the trio in white Top Gear outfits.

He wrote the caption: 'We were always going to be b but we were your b.

'Thanks for all the love over the years folks, it was very much appreciated.'

Flintoff is understood to have negotiated a £9million settlement with the BBC for two years' loss of earnings as a result of the crash.

And sources have told The Telegraph that the corporation would not be able to secure insurance cover for the kind of stunts featured in past series.

'The insurance costs are through the roof,' an insider told the newspaper. 'They were already pretty high, but after the payout…no-one is going to want to do that, unless they're charging more than the BBC can pay.'

MailOnline understands that insurance costs were not a factor in the BBC's decision to pause the show.

In a statement earlier this week, the BBC said: 'Given the exceptional circumstances, the BBC has decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future.

'The BBC remains committed to Freddie, Chris and Paddy who have been at the heart of the show's renaissance since 2019, and we're excited about new projects being developed with each of them.

'We will have more to say in the near future on this. We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do.

'All other Top Gear activity remains unaffected by this hiatus including international formats, digital, magazines and licensing.'