‘The Grand Tour’ Presenter Richard Hammond Goes ‘Big!’ for Discovery

Richard Hammond will take a break from his “Grand Tour” duties to make a series about the world’s biggest structures and machines for Discovery. The former “Top Gear” presenter fronts Amazon’s “Grand Tour” with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, but is going solo for “Richard Hammond’s Big!”

Hammond’s Chimp Productions will make the show, which will see him travel the globe and explore how engineers go about building, maintaining and using the featured superstructures, such as the world’s longest underground railway tunnel and a huge cargo ship. He will explore the science behind them with a series of experiments.

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Discovery has set the series up as global commission. In the U.K. it will be on Discovery Channel and in the U.S. on Science Channel. In Germany, Italy, and Spain it will be on DMAX.

“I love engineering and the science behind it,” Hammond said. “And the bigger the better. It’s going to be fact filled and huge fun. It’s going to be Big! This is a fantastic commission for Chimp and I look forward to showing what we can bring to it.”

Fulvia Nicoli, EVP, head of product, Discovery International added: “As a world-renowned talent that audiences across the globe love, we’re delighted to welcome Richard and his infectious brand of curiosity to the Discovery family.”

“The Grand Tour” presenters all have solo projects outside of the motoring show, which is set for a revamp on Amazon. Clarkson has hosted the “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” reboot for ITV and James May is heading to Japan for a new travel show for Amazon.

Hammond’s other work includes fronting Sky’s “Brainiac: Science Abuse” and physical gameshow “Total Wipeout.”

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