Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are set to appear briefly in the new season of The Grand Tour, alongside their replacements.
The trio fronted the BBC motoring series Top Gear together until 2015 before hosting The Grand Tour on Prime Video between 2016 and 2024.
With Clarkson, Hammond and May having announced in 2024 they would be stepping away from the series, a new line-up of hosts has since been announced for the forthcoming season: YouTubers James Engelsman and Thomas Holland, and social media train enthusiast Francis Bourgeois.
TV producer and The Grand Tour co-creator and Andy Wilman told 3Bs radio at the Buckingham Literary Festival: “We’ve got three guys coming soon with a new Grand Tour and we’ve got behind them. We’re really supporting them.
“Our guys are in the shows doing cameos, so we’re wishing them well because we do want to pass that baton on.”
Series seven of The Grand Tour arrives on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service on 4 September.
Describing the rationale behind hiring the three new presenters, Wilman explained: “When those three (Clarkson and co) go away, you can’t parachute in three new, good presenters who are funny. That’s like describing the show over the phone to an alien – ‘You just need three funny blokes and they muck about’. It’s not going to work.”
In June, Clarkson revealed that he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer last year, and underwent treatment after it was caught at a “really early” stage.
He later said that a recent post-treatment test had found no indication of cancer and he was declared to be in remission.
Of the new presenting team, Holland and Engelsman previously worked as a duo on the popular car-based YouTube channel Throttle House.
Bourgeois, meanwhile, is known for his viral trainspotting videos, shot through a fisheye lens on a GoPro camera attached to his head. He is also a trained mechanical engineer.
Discussing his appointment to The Grand Tour, he claimed: “The saying ‘big shoes to fill’ spring to mind. Well, in this case, it’ll be like Mo Farah running in Size 14 wellies – it’ll be a little awkward at first, perhaps blister-inducing, but will overall be an interesting watch.”
Engelsman said: “I’ve worked with Thomas for almost a decade making car films. Who knew that all this time, the one ingredient that was missing was a Francis Bourgeois? Let the car adventures commence.”