Add Richard Hammond’s Workshop to your watchlist
What’s the view from your sofa?
I recently moved house and I’m basically living in two rooms while I do the rest up. I have a beautiful view of The Blorenge [a hill in southeast Wales] but my TV is a small cheap thing I bought from the supermarket.
What have you been enjoying watching recently?
I persuaded a friend to watch The Blacklist, which I’ve seen multiple times, but it meant I could go through the whole series again. I’ve missed Red Reddington [a criminal played by James Spader].
Have you ever looked online and found your first TV appearances on Men & Motors?
I have. It was like watching my son… and I don’t have one! I have a cassette tape of my first ever live radio show from 1988 – I sound so tiny and terrified!
You started your car restoration business The Smallest Cog five years ago. What happens when the cameras stop rolling on Richard Hammond’s Workshop?
I set the business up long before the TV show. It was genuinely something I wanted to do, and it was only afterwards I thought it might work for telly. It’s an authentic business and is really hard work. Thank god I have people to help me, because who knew that 38 years of broadcasting experience does not turn somebody into a businessman?
Do you watch the old Top Gear gang’s other shows – Clarkson’s Farm or James May’s Great Explorers?
Not really, no. We’ve always pursued careers outside of the shows we’ve done together. We’ve very lucky to have the chance to follow our passions and hobbies.
What do you think of The Grand Tour’s new presenters Thomas Holland, James Engelsman and Francis Bourgeois?
I wish them the very best. From what I can see, the audience is giving them space and time to find their own way of working, which is what they need. They have to find “their” show. Good luck to them.
The motoring world is moving away from being male-dominated as we’re seeing more women enter, including your daughter Izzy. What advice have you given her?
A couple of years ago we were on a racetrack, she was driving and we were just grinning and chatting about cars and I asked her, “Where was this version of you when you were growing up when we could have done anything at all?” She said that as a girl back then it didn’t feel accessible. It took courage for her to step into this world, and thankfully, so have a number of her friends as engineers, drivers, presenters or commentators.
It must be difficult when you watch her racing, knowing how dangerous it can be?
Absolutely. Recently I had friends over for a Sunday roast and we were all watching her race on the TV and saw her smash into a wall. I was very scared, but whatever our children do, there are dangers. You have to let them go and hope things don’t go wrong. I was just annoyed that it ruined a really good piece of beef – 80 quids’ worth of sirloin steak!
With conversations around emissions and sustainability, is it controversial to be a car enthusiast now?
It’s a big emotive subject and nobody’s denying that we need to decarbonise transport, but how we do it is slightly more complicated than governments just telling everybody to go electric.
If you could own any of the following TV cars, which would it be: the Batmobile, Del-boy’s Robin Reliant or KITT from Knight Rider?
I’m gonna say the Batmobile because it was so exciting to look at – just breathtaking with its black fins and flames coming out the back.