Richard Hammond's Official Website

Richard Hammond’s Journey to the Centre of the Planet

hamster — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:17:36 +0000

Our planet is unique. It’s an extraordinary piece of engineering over four and a half billion years old. Now in a two-part series for BBC One, I embark on a fascinating journey to the centre of the planet using state of the art technology – a giant 3D virtual earth – to investigate how the earth’s machine dominates the modern world round around us and what’s happening beneath our feet in a way we’ve never seen before.

In making this show I learned that our planet is far, far from being an inert lump of rock that we live on; it has a vital, dynamic role to play in defining and enabling our existence. People talk about going on a ‘journey’ in TV shows: well this has to be the ultimate such journey not only across and around our world but deep into it. It’s a journey that changed the way I think about the earth beneath our feet. I hope it does the same for you.

Richard Hammond’s Journey To The Centre Of The Planet begins on Tuesday, 19th July at 21.00 on BBC One. Episode Two – Richard Hammond’s Journey To The Bottom Of The Ocean – is on Tuesday, 26th July.

CURRENT NEWS: The Mexican affair.

hamster — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:19:12 +0000

About time I spoke up on the Mexican affair.

Look, I was talking about the cartoon characters in western movies we all watched as kids and I am really sorry if I’ve offended anyone. Yes, we were stereotyping on Top Gear and yes, that can go wrong – as it rather has – but it can also be quite funny and that’s what we were hoping to do. We Brits are often portrayed as clumsy snobs in bowler hats with brown teeth and terrible food. And it’s funny. The BBC knows that and that’s why they’ve stated quite clearly that ‘stereotype comedy is allowed within BBC guidelines in programmes where the audience has clear expectations of that being the case.’ I don’t think anyone will disagree that Top Gear falls into that category.

Nevertheless, if we really have upset anyone, if they really feel I was expressing a genuinely held view that I believed Mexico to be populated by blokes in big hats and moustaches, then I am very sorry. Clearly, I don’t really believe this, any more than I imagine France to be full of amorous cyclists with onions round their necks.

Of course, if I really did believe in these things, don’t you think the joke would rather be on me? RH

Look out for a dedicated News page and Blog area soon – and don’t forget to join me on Facebook too, now that the imposters are gone and I’ve got my own page I’ll be fully fledged in the digital domain before long!!

Hammond Meets Moss

hamster — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:03:33 +0000

Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss? Stirling Moss is a legend. Simple as that. Nearly four decades after his racing career ended, his name is still synonymous with racing, even to those born twenty or thirty years after he hung up his overalls. He stopped because he had a massive crash, sustaining a pretty horrible head injury. And this is why we got together, him and me. We sat down in a TV studio and just talked. We spoke about his career, we spoke about how he was hailed as the greatest driver of his generation and we spoke about brain injury. This is the first time I’ve ever talked about it in depth, about the struggle to get better, about what it means to be told you’ve damaged your brain and how the only thing you have with which to assess that damage is the very thing you have damaged. I found it cathartic and I think Sir Stirling, even though it’s forty years or so since his crash, found it useful too. He was honest, disarmingly so, about what it meant to him and how he set off on the long road to recovery. I hope it sheds some light on a kind of injury which, although sustained in a million different ways, affects a lot of people. We’re donating a pound from the sale of every DVD to the Herefordshire Headway Trust who work to help people in who find themselves in situations like Stirling and I found ourselves.

Richard Hammond’s Top Gear Uncovered

hamster — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:44:41 +0000

Being a Top Gear presenter is often described as being the best job in the world, especially if you work in a factory gutting chickens, (which I used to do). So in this DVD, featuring stunts and tomfoolery never seen on TV,

I show you how to master the dark art of being a Top Gear host, and how to make your own Top Gear show. This DVD will change your life forever. Probably.

Richard Hammond’s BBC Top Gear Interactive Challenge

hamster — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:15:18 +0000

On this disc you’ll find a series of rounds designed to test your skill and judgement, or maybe just your powers of guesswork. That’s not all either because, right there from the comfort of your armchair, you’ll get to blow up a load of caravans- and possibly me as well – simply by pushing a button on your remote control. We’ve got Ferraris, we’ve got Aston Martins, we’ve got Lamborghinis, we’ve got The Stig; in fact we’ve got everything you’ve grown to know and love about me and those two other ridiculous blokes mucking about on your telly. So what more do you want? A unicorn? I hope you enjoy it. The game, I mean. Unicorns don’t exist.

Top Gear Apocalypse

hamster — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:23:49 +0000

The definitive guide to motoring in a post-apocalyptic world. Just what will motoring be like in a post-apocalyptic world that’s been blown to bits by nuclear bombs or a massive comet? It’s a burning question that’s on literally nobody’s mind, and I worked tirelessly with James May to give you all the answers in this brand new, incredibly cheerful Top Gear DVD embarking on a terrifying journey into the future. We show you how to drive to work in the perpetual darkness of a Nuclear Winter, how to make motorsport exciting when there’s only two racing drivers left alive, and, in a world where all cars are bristling with weapons, how to survive the savage, explosive fury of a Doomsday M.O.T test. And amongst all the nuclear carnage, we also tackle the ultimate petrolhead’s dilemma – what cars would you take for a final drive if there was only one barrel of petrol left on the planet? The explosions are huge, the cars are superb, so relax and enjoy. PS. This frightening vision of a post-nuclear world is backed up by top scientists, in case you think it’s us just cocking about.

Richard Hammond’s Top Gear Stunt Challenge

hamster — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:27:37 +0000

Packed onto this tiny silver disc you’ll find a whole festival of brand new never seen before daredevilry, plus some stunt footage from the Top Gear telly show and an entire Interactive quiz extravaganza. Best of all, whilst you’re playing along at home you get to control the action, so if you’ve ever fancied bungee jumping a caravan, blowing up a white van, or playing skittles with a powersliding car, this is the DVD for you.And when you’re bored of the whole thing you can always use the disc as an attractive drinks coaster or, if you’re a minicab driver, something to hang from your rear view mirror.

Richard Hammond’s Blast Lab Blow-Ups

hamster — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:33:27 +0000

This is a 2 hour DVD extravaganza, jam-packed with the most spectacular stunts and awesome experiments ever to come out of my Blast Lab. Featuring the first ever Lablympic Games, sparks fly with six BRAND NEW never-before-seen, massive stunts. Hang onto your seatbelts for a non-stop barrage of mind-boggling mayhem and totally wanton destruction! It will make children’s jaws drop, parents’ mouths gape in amazement and grandparents’ false teeth fall out completely! Blast Lab Blow-Ups also presents The Blastas, a unique awards ceremony celebrating the very best stunts and blazing explosions from the TV series including Best Destruction Of A Household Object in the Name of Science, Best Gravity-Defying Stunt and lots more.

Or is That Just Me?

hamster — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:43:02 +0000

“Yes, the hair is part of a midlife crisis. Yes I drive a sports car and wear clothes ten years too young for me. I’m having a mid-life crisis, ok? Nobody looks at a spotty teenager in baggy jeans and shouts, ‘look at you with your zits and jeans hanging down round your backside, you’re a teenager!’ It’s just a fact, they are teenagers and they act like them. And nobody shouts at an old man, ‘look at you with your hairy ears and your pork pie hat on the parcel shelf of your Honda. You’re old!’ So why can’t they leave us mid-life crisi-ers to it? I set out to redress the balance and explain the tricky nature of that slope down to forty for the modern man. And I did that by being searingly honest about my own experiences and feelings as I approach the landmark four-oh.”

OR IS THAT JUST ME? Richard confronts his fear of turning forty, realizing he may be rapidly hurtling towards a mid-life crisis; bravely plays the part of a fearless Mongol horseback warrior in the wild woods of Middlesex; looks forward to an exotic shoot in Hawaii only to discover it’s a ‘bit like North Wales’ only colder, bringing back uncomfortable memories of being stabbed on a school trip to Snowdonia; is rushed to hospital with appendicitis and finds out that yet more of his body parts have to be surgically removed; gets scared to death travelling at 4MPH; has his rock-star dream come true playing bass in a band with Jeremy, James and The Darkness’ lead singer Justin Hawkins; and is involved in a midair helicopter collision (with a seagull) on tour in New Zealand.
Are things starting to fall apart? Or is that just him…?

Richard’s Own Praise for Or Is That Just Me
“Scorching, searingly honest, a page-turner and a gut-wrenching insight into the inner workings of the modern man. I like the bit where he picks a fight with a Marine on the aircraft carrier and tries to get into bed with the captain. No he does, really.”

AS YOU DO

hamster — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 20:06:43 +0000

“It sometimes seems like everyone wants to be on the telly and I felt it about time I spoke up about what it’s really like working on one of the biggest telly programmes in the world. I’ve driven across Botswana in a 1964 Opel Kadett, been chased for days across the Arctic wastes by Polar bears, crossed the channel in a pick up truck and being chased by rednecks with guns across three American States. All of these things have been on the telly, but this is the story of what is was actually like making those shows, doing those trips. I’m not saying it’s a useful guide to getting a job on TV – really, it’s not – but it’s a handy insight. And, I hope, a bit of a laugh too.”

AS YOU DO… Adventures with Evel, Oliver, and the Vice-President of Botswana chronicles Richard’s many scrapes and adventures over the past year. Moving on from the devastating crash that nearly killed him he ranges widely over his life and times: a visit to Glastonbury with James May reminds of him of his early years of playing in a band and how and why he never quite made it as a rock star; the stunts and other perils that come his way like the TopGear North Pole race (why is it Richard who is out in the howling elements in a dog sled whilst the others are in the heated cab of an all-terrain vehicle?), Africa where he falls in love with and repatriates a stray car which he names ‘Oliver’, and the US (once to be chased by Rednecks in middle America, the other in pursuit of his mad hero Evel Knievel). Converting a camper-van in an attempt to cross the Channel is a predictable disaster and he has to be rescued from the sea. A brief stop-over at home coincides with the great floods. He is forced to abandon his car seventeen miles from home and run all night to get back in time, as promised, for his daughter’s birthday party. Richard writes as well about his passion for cars, what he owns and why and, although he loves his wife, why it is a toss-up whether he says hello to the wife or the cars first. Balancing home and family with a crazy, peripatetic working life (or not, sometimes), the hamster is well and truly back on the wheel.

Richard’s Own Praise for As You Do
“Probably the definitive modern diary charting the life of today’s TV industry professional. A telling and beautifully told tale full of mystery and suffused with a haunting beauty. I really like the bit where he steals a pool ball from a bar in Evil Kneivel’s home town. And the bit where his mate throws Polar Bear poo at him”.