Part two of Scene Scania's Interview with Richard Hammond.
“To begin with, I scratched around to earn a living, but as I became more established on Men & Motors more offers of TV work came in. I ended up doing loads of car and bike programmes…and then along came the audition for Top Gear.
“Now, I had wanted to work on Top Gear since childhood, so I was really up for this one. On the day, they asked me to talk about a car in the studio for a minute and a half, read some of the programme’s news – and then have an argument with Jeremy Clarkson! It was a great experience and I couldn’t wait to hear how I got on. But then I heard a rumour that they were, in fact, looking for a girl. That made it worse: I really liked it there, loved the people – I really wanted that job!
“So I just went home and crossed my fingers and waited. Then, sitting in my office one day a call came from out of the blue. It was Gary Hunter, the Top Gear series producer. “Would you like to join our team?” he said. “Yes, please,” I squeaked – and left it right there without saying another word!
“It really was a dream come true. I just couldn’t believe it. After that brief conversation, I called them back four times to make sure it was for real! Then, I opened a bottle of champagne and my wife and I spent the rest of the day celebrating!
“Top Gear has been incredibly exciting to work on. It’s such a success that I feel like the luckiest man in the world with the best job too. It’s certainly allowed me to do a whole host of things I’d never get the chance to have a go at otherwise.
“The best thing so far has been driving a Bowler Wildcat, which is a mega off-road Paris-Dakar style machine. That has to be the best day out I’ve ever had! The worst was being dropped into a tank of water in a car to see how you get out. I’ve also been deliberately struck by lightning by sitting in a car beneath a giant electrical generator. And then there’s the 19 caravans we’ve destroyed…”
Nineteen caravans? Destroyed? “Yes,” replies Richard with more than a hint of undisguised satisfaction. “It’s…er…just kind of happened in the course of making the programme. We’ve blown up four, dropped one from a crane, driven through a few and jumped through several more. And then there was the one we toasted with a jet car…!”
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