James May doesn't think he'll ever work with Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson again
Fresh off the back of another successful The Grand Tour special, James May says he is done with car shows.
Starring on the UK Channel 4 show Driven way back in 1998, ‘Mr Slow’ has been involved in some brilliant car programmes ever since.
Of course, the 61-year-old made a name for himself on BBC’s Top Gear, who he presented alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.
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And ever since the trio joined forces in 2003 for Top Gear, the presenters have been involved in a car show together.
However, May does not believe he will work with Clarkson and Hammond again, something that will come as devastating news to The Grand Tour and Top Gear Fans.
Why Clarkson, Hammond and May won't work together again
While it was previously confirmed the trio are done with car shows, UNILAD asked May if he could see a world where he joined up with Clarkson and Hammond on a non-car programme.
He replied: "I think people would only really like us doing cars, despite what some people say - ‘Oh, I think you should all go off and do cooking or you should all go and do a podcast about nothing’.
“But I don’t think so, I think we should let it lie, what we did.”
So, with a reunion not on the cards, what does May plan to do now?
'I don't know if anybody wants me.'
There have been rumors he may retire, but May has kept the door open for a potential TV return.
"I'm sure there will be something, but it won't be as big as [The Grand Tour] and I don’t need it to be. I’ve done that."
May joked any future TV shows may be on ice however as he ‘doesn't know if anybody wants me’.
"I'm quite open minded yet. To be honest, I don't know if anybody wants me," he said.
The future of The Grand Tour
While May says his time is up with The Grand Tour, there have been reports in recent months that Amazon's car show will continue with a new presenting lineup.
According to TV industry publication Broadcast, production company Studio Lambert will take over the running of the show from its current producers, Flat Four Films.
Speaking of the speculation, May said: "I don't know what form it's going to take. I hope they're going to come up with a completely new way of doing it and they are just really inheriting the name.
"We're [May, Clarkson and Hammond] not involved in it and I don't think they want us anywhere near it to be honest."
Whoever the new presenting team may be, May has warned Amazon against doing the 'same thing' as him, Clarkson and Hammond.
He said: "If they just tried to do the same thing and recast us effectively with actors, that wouldn't work - but I don't think they will do that, they're not daft.
"And anyway, that's failed before and they will have seen it fail."
Top Gear post-Clarkson, Hammond and May
Of course, May is referring to when British TV presenter and radio host Chris Evans took over Top Gear in 2015 after Clarkson was fired by the BBC.
The Clarkson's Farm host was involved in a 'fracas' with Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon due to the lack of hot food being provided following a day's filming.
Clarkson later apologized, but that wasn't enough to save his job.
Speaking of the incident, May told UNILAD: "I mean, it does seem like a great deal of fuss about nothing. It could have been sorted out much more easily.
"But, you know, it didn't work out badly in the end, because we went off to do some of the great adventures and carried on."
Evans took the reins after May and Hammond followed Clarkson out the door, but that was certainly a car crash.
The 58-year-old lasted just six episodes and one series, after quitting due to poor viewing figures and mixed fan reception.
"Stepping down from Top Gear. Gave it my best shot but sometimes that's not enough," he wrote on X in 2016.
Many felt that Evans had an impossible job taking over from the famous trio, and May is not in disagreement with that.
He said: "I think anybody who took that show [Top Gear] had an almost impossible job.
"I mean, not completely impossible, because it's been reinvented before, and it can be done again.
"But it is very difficult, and I wouldn't want to do it."
Fast forward to the current day, Top Gear will not be retuning for the 'foreseeable future' after the BBC decided to 'rest' the show.
It comes after Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff was hurt in a crash while filming for the show in December 2023.
The BBC hasn't ruled out Top Gear coming back in some form in the future, and May hopes it will make a return one day.
"I think it should come back. I think if The Grand Tour can come back in a new form; I don't see why it shouldn't," May said.
"I think it's a very interesting time in the history of the car and there's a great deal to talk about.
"Top Gear has been around for such a long time, it would be a shame if it disappeared and the big broadcasters didn't have a mainstream car show."
The quiet life
While the future for both May and Top Gear is yet to be decided, the automotive journalist is content with the quiet life for now.
"At the moment I’m having quite a reasonably quiet life, apart from developing gin flavors to making a few YouTube videos," he told UNILAD.
Though the presenter claimed not to know whether anybody would 'want him', I'm sure fans across the globe will be glad to welcome him into whatever's next.
Topics: Jeremy Clarkson, BBC, Amazon Prime, Film and TV
Callum Jones