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Top Gear follow-up with Clarkson, Hammond, May coming to Amazon streaming

Overnight, Amazon Prime Instant Video announced that it had secured the rights to a new a motoring show headed by former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.


The online shopping giant has also signed up Andy Wilman, the long time executive producer of Top Gear. The foursome have signed a "landmark global TV deal" that includes a minimum of three seasons.

Production of the new show will reportedly begin soon and is set to debut in 2016. No name, format or running time has been announced for the new show. Earlier reports indicated that the trio were in talks with Netflix, as well as the BBC's main terrestrial TV rival, the ITV network.

Amazon Instant Video is offered as part of the company's Prime programme, which for an annual fee of US$99 ($135) in the US and 79 pounds ($169) in the UK affords members free two-day shipping on most products. The streaming video service is currently only officially available to viewers in the USA, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan. How the company will distribute the new motoring show outside of those territories has yet to be revealed.

The BBC effectively sacked Clarkson after a "fracas", where he verbally abused and physically attacked Oisin Tymon, a producer on Top Gear, at a hotel after a day of filming.

A new season of Top Gear has been commission for 2016 by the BBC. The broadcaster has already announced that Chris Evans, who presents the breakfast show for BBC Radio 2, will be the retooled show's new main host. The corporation is currently reviewing applicants to join Evans on Top Gear.

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