Andy Wilman has lifted the bonnet on the former Top Gear team’s landmark deal with Amazon Prime Video, explaining that they will be “left alone” to take the best of their old show and update it for a “new world” audience.

Speaking exclusively to Broadcast, the executive producer said Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are beginning development on the yet-to-be-titled new series after a frantic few months of negotiation since leaving the BBC.

Wilman revealed that he and the presenting team received several offers immediately after the BBC confirmed it would not be renewing Clarkson’s deal in March for punching Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon.

This included “very early chats” with ITV, which were ultimately scuppered by a non-compete clause in their BBC contract that meant they were unable to sign for a terrestrial rival within two years of leaving the corporation.

Despite this, Wilman said the “strongest and most intelligent offer” came from Amazon, which bought into their vision for the show and desire to be trusted to make it on their own terms.

“Everyone we have talked to has said to us: ‘They leave you alone to make your show’. That’s a big one for us - we don’t like interference, we don’t need to be policed,” he explained.

The value of the deal was undisclosed, but it represents Amazon’s biggest single investment in original content to date and Wilman revealed that they have been backed with a “really good budget” to make the programme.

“Money, freedom and a love of quality. Those three things are what was attractive,” he said.

The ex-Top Gear team personally brokered the deal with Amazon UK film and TV strategy director Chris Bird and Conrad Riggs, the US online giant’s head of TV production.

The former echoed Wilman’s sentiments on creative freedom, telling Broadcast: “It would be crazy for us to interfere with a creative process that has been so successful in the past.”

The “new look” Top Gear

Clarkson and co will produce 12 episodes of roughly 60 minutes in length for each of the three series, which they will begin delivering in autumn next year. Wilman said the show will build on the successful Top Gear formula, but there will be “lots of newness”.

There will be “indoor” studio elements, as well as the signature global adventures that Clarkson, Hammond and May have become famous for.

Importantly, Wilman stressed, the programme will be anchored in the UK and the presenting trio are likely to be given “more time to yak” about cars away from the road. The deal also gives the hosts the freedom to pursue non-motoring television projects away from Amazon, keeping the door open for them to remain fixtures on the BBC.

Wilman added: “You can’t reinvent the sideways, Last of the Summer Wine-type relationship they have because that is outside of television, that is theirs. But there will be a new look, new elements, new home. We’ve been so busy doing the bloody deal…that [the development] process now begins in earnest.”

He and Bird hinted that the show could be scheduled on a weekly basis, rather than making the whole series available in one go to binge-watch. Both said Top Gear’s audience is used to the habit of having a fresh episode to watch every seven days and Wilman joked: “We’re a one trick pony, I wouldn’t watch 12 episodes in a row.”

Clarkson and co’s new indie

The show will be produced by a new production company established by Wilman, Clarkson, Hammond and May. Named W Chump & Sons, it is a nod to their northern backgrounds, where Wilman said a lot of companies in the 1960s/70s had “& Sons” in their names. W Chump also includes the first letter of all four of their surnames.

Wilman is beginning to crew up for the show and is on the hunt for staff at all levels of the production process. He is particularly keen to bring in a “shit hot” production manager, joking that they used to “run fucking riot with money” while they were at the BBC.

Amazon will help oversee the distribution of the motoring brand to broadcasters and platforms outside of its existing territories of the US, UK and Germany. Bird also said the show will be used as a tool to help it grow its footprint and launch in new countries.

Merchandising and events are also on the radar, but more thought will be given to the programme’s life away from the screen nearer the time of launch.

Wilman said they would have remained at the BBC had the Clarkson “fracas” not occurred.

“We didn’t plan this and we would have carried on but that’s life, and crikey it’s looking pretty good right now,” he explained.

“We get to carry on working, we get new challenges and Top Gear is in good hands. The viewers get two car shows, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Five fast facts: Clarkson and co’s Amazon deal