TV star James May is returning to the small screen with a new series of his travel show, James May: Our Man In… just weeks after he and his co-hosts announced the end of The Grand Tour.
This series follows James as he jets off to India and immerses himself in the local culture, but there was one part of his trip which he said was particularly “nerve-wracking.”
In the new Prime Video travel show, which premieres on January 5 2024, the 60-year-old travel presenter journeys north from Mumbai through to Udaipur.
One of the highlights of James’s trip to India was when he took part in the annual festival of Holi in the town of Udaipur, a joyous, colourful and very loud celebration.
“It’s great fun,” James gushed. “There’s a real buzz and people get very excited about it. The bit that amazed me, though, is they put these bonfires up all around the town and they fill them with these crackers. But they’re not like our little weedy bangers, they’re proper explosives.
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He added: “I just don’t understand, given that they do that every year, how they haven’t burned the place down. And somehow the next day they manage to tidy it all away, even though the place is covered in paint and water and dead fireworks and bits of discarded street food. It’s an absolute riot.”
There were plenty of surprises waiting for James in India, and some were more daunting than others.
On one occasion, he got to try out his acting skills, playing the part of 19th century Scottish theologian and missionary William Hastie in a so called ‘Tollywood’ TV show - Indian series and films made in the Telugu language.
But this unexpected opportunity definitely pushed him out of his comfort zone.
“It was nerve-racking,” James admitted.
He continued: “We originally thought that they would give me just some very innocuous little cameo role in something like a soap. But because they were very keen to show off Tollywood, they wanted to give me a fairly serious part.
“But then it turned into a bit of a responsibility because obviously you can’t really muck about being the theologian William Hastie - but I’m not an actor and I’ve never really done anything like that. But it makes for quite a good bit of telly because I keep co*king it up.”
And, with Top Gear and The Grand Tour being shown all around the world, did James find himself being recognised in India?
“We do have fans there, definitely,” he said. “So yes, quite a lot of people. I’m not going to pretend I had crowds of people saying: ‘Oh my God, look, it’s James May with his crappy hair and this stupid, ill-fitting shirt!’”
Not everyone he encountered was as cruel as that, though. He explained: “One or two people did come up and say: ‘Oh, I’ve seen you on...’ So I think - well, I hope - people will be watching.”
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James’ new show will premiere just weeks after it was announced that he and his long-time friends and co-stars would be stepping away from The Grand Tour.
He admitted that he wasn’t exactly leaving the Prime Video motoring show on his own terms, telling Today that he, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond had wanted to finish up the Grand Tour “with grace rather than flying it into a cliff.”
However, the trio remain close and have said the door is open for them to reunite on screen at some point in the future.
James May: Our Man In India premieres on January 5 2024 on Prime Video.
