Richard Hammond's Workshop

With being saturated with dross and terrible ideas, this series isn't that. Always liked Richard Hamond and the Top Gear/ Grand Tour series. This isn't that either, this is something more interesting to watch and shows the creak and groans of real life reality of a small business owner. Really interesting too watch, and I am not really into older cars. But it's still interesting to watch History being reborn.

Richard Hammond is a very likeable chap, and obviously has a genuine love of classic cars. Following his story as he sets up his own classic car renovation business is both enjoyable and educational. However, my one, major bug bear with the show is, "Ooh, he's got to spend over 100K on a new whatever, he might go bankrupt." just doesn't sit well. His current worth is estimated at 45 million UK pounds, so he probably makes 100K in interest every year, if not more. So to see him fretting over spending the odd 10 grand here and there is just false drama, and for me, distracts from a genuinely interesting show. Yes, it is important to understand the cost of these things, and is part of the process so should be included in the show. But in every episode so far (3 as I write this) one of the main themes has been about the financial side of the business, and how much this or that costs. Oh I need to put another 15K of my own money in etc. I'd rather they concentrated on the cars and restoration process, while still commenting on the financial investment he is making as an aside.

As a fan of Top Gear and The Grand Tour and a fan of Clarkson, May and Hammond I was looking forward to this.

If it was half as good as Clarkson's Farm I would be content and I suppose it is in many ways.

Hammond comes across as a really fun bloke, his playful infectious personality comes through and there are many smiles to be had.

But as the series has progressed (currently series 3 as I write this) it has started to become more false and overly scripted.

The situations and set ups are so obvious now it has come distracting and this has taken the enjoyment out of it for me.

I'm pretty sure if it wasn't Richard Hammond fronting this, it would be not be rating as high as it is on IMDB.

I only watched 20 minutes of the first episode and decide to have a cup of tea. I didn't bother watching the rest of it I then watched the next 2 in a row now that there starting to work on cars it is becoming more enjoyable. Hammond just does not have the same class of dry wit that Clarkson and May have but I like it with less over the top drama. Just waiting on the first £5000 windscreen drop that most car shows have.

I would have expected more about the actual car restoration side of the business and less about multimillionaires driving around and worrying about having to invest 100,000 pounds into their startup, all while earning who knows how much from the TV show about said business.

Meanwhile, the format of the show itself is too reality TV-y for my taste. Too much screen time consists of people testifying into the camera and repeating at nauseam what's currently going on. I also don't get a great deal of joy out of watching Richard Hammond being emasculated at home as a recurring theme.

This could have been filmed the same way Clarkson's Farm was. Still obviously dramatized, and yet more... natural. The concept had every right to be just as interesting and entertaining.

Somehow, Richard Hammond's solo projects always end up a bit off, and the least enjoyable to watch out of the Top Gear Three.