The British Are Coming; Mayhem Sure to Follow
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El Paso, Tex.FORT BLISS may be the least British place on earth. It's a million acres of Texas and New Mexico desert where it always seems hot, it practically never rains and virtually everything has been sun-scorched brown.
And every day it's where the United States Army practices destroying things with tanks.
Nevertheless, this is where Richard Hammond, British to the marrow, is starting his occupation of America after three days of training with the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank.
Mr. Hammond, 42, is the boyish third of the cast of the BBC's car-obsessed "Top Gear." He is here on a blazing September day, wearing a flight suit and learning to operate the Abrams tank for his new TV show, "Richard Hammond's Crash Course."
The show, which will make its debut on the BBC America cable channel on April 16, is produced in America for an American audience. That makes it something of a test of how far Mr. Hammond can push the popularity he has earned -- but in this case, without the interplay of his "Top Gear" co-hosts, James May and Jeremy Clarkson.
"I travel a lot with work, obviously," Mr. Hammond said. "Because of the shared language, as far as that sharing goes, America seems in some ways more foreign that many of the other places I go."
Mr. Hammond is part of an international phenomenon: a TV show about cars that has evolved into a comedy cavalcade of motorized mayhem -- and one of Britain's most beloved cultural exports. It has also become a touchstone for the worldwide automotive culture, and it is widely followed in YouTube clips.
Mr. Hammond already has an established solo career in Britain where he hosts, among many other things, "Total Wipeout," that country's version of the ABC game and stunt show.
The outside work even brings benefits to "Top Gear."
"Doing your own projects is fun," he said. "I think it's important because we go away and we bring experiences back."
As BBC America's first reality show produced in and for America, it's an opportunity for the broadcaster to build on the success of "Top Gear." If the Anglo-American content works, the channel will further burrow into this country's collective basic cable package.
First Published February 12, 2012 12:01 am
