Industry Television production Founded July 2015 | Parent Chump Holdings Type of business Limited company | |
Genre Factual Entertainment, Automotive Journalism Products The Grand Tour (2016-)
Drivetribe.com (2016-) Divisions W. Chump & Sons
W. Chump & Sons Productions
W. Chump & Sons (Mugs & T-shirts) Headquarters Studio 4, Power Road Studios, Power Road, Chiswick, London Owners Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May, Andy Wilman | ||
W. Chump & Sons Limited is an independent television production company founded in July 2015 in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered on Power Road, Chiswick, London, and owned by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Andy Wilman. The directors of the company are the former presenters and executive producer of the MPH Show and Top Gear Live exhibition tours, as well as the former Top Gear series produced for BBC Television from October 2002 until March 2015. As of 2016 the company was engaged in producing The Grand Tour, a motoring television series that debuted on Amazon Video on 18 November 2016.
Contents
Two of the directors, Clarkson and Wilman previously owned the production company Bedder 6 until 2012 when it was sold to BBC Worldwide.
Company
Chump Holdings Limited is the holding company for the group of companies. The relationship between Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman and control of the company is covered by a 46-page Articles of Incorporation and each have an equal 25% stake in umbrella firm Chump Holdings – logged at Companies House on October 6. The document, written by law firm Olswang, covers topics including decision-making, conflicts of interests, removal of directors and errors and disputes. … Chump Holdings contains their TV-making arm W. Chump and Sons Productions and another business W. Chump and Sons Ltd which could deal with other areas such as merchandise and any live tours.
In August 2015 property agency Martin Burke & Associated were instructed to locate a suitable office with "generous car parking space" in Hammersmith, Chiswick or Notting Hill. The company initially used temporary office space in Notting Hill. In October 2015 W. Chump & Sons took a three-year lease on an office at Power Road Studios in Chiswick—at the time leased from Sapcote Group—paying £38 per square-foot. The building containing the offices was subsequently bought by Helical Bar from Sapcote. The company moved in at the beginning of January 2016.
A second company, W. Chump & Sons Productions Limited was founded in September 2015 with Andy Wilman as its sole director. A third company Chump Productions with Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman as directors and owned by Chump Holdings was founded on 2 October 2015. The companies use the registered office of legal firm Olswang at 90 High Holborn, London.
In mid-December 2015 Clarkson stated to Jeremy Paxman of the Financial Times that "serious business folk who want to be in on what looks set to be a roaring success will have to carry business cards bearing their name and rank in the hierarchy of, for example, W Chump and Sons (mugs and T-shirts)". One week later, a fourth company W. Chump & Sons (Mugs & T-Shirts) Limited was incorporated on 23 December 2015 and made up of the four main directors, plus Ernesto Schmitt formerly of Beamly and EMI Music.
David Cameron, who was British Prime Minister at the time, visited the offices of W. Chump & Sons on 16 June 2016.
Cars
In late-2015 the organisation acquired four Reliant Robin three-wheelers as company cars. The fleet of four cars for Clarkson, Hammond, May and Wilman cost under £15,000.
Amazon
In July 2015, the directors of W. Chump & Sons signed contracts with the online broadcaster Amazon Video to join a list of original programmes distributed by Amazon and produce 36 episodes of The Grand Tour. The deal was arranged by Chris Bird and Conrad Riggs of Amazon. The first series was scheduled to be distributed to Amazon Prime's online customers from late-2016. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos described the deal as being "very, very, very expensive".
In August 2016, Executive Producer Andy Wilman attended the Edinburgh International Television Festival and held a 35-minute talk called "The Grand Tour Masterclass" in which he went into detail about working with Amazon Video on their new show, the fallout with the BBC and what audiences can expect to see in The Grand Tour. Despite a number of attempts to get information on The Grand Tour's release date and schedule, Wilman said he didn't know, stating "That's their [Amazon Video's] call".