Hammond's Workshop S4 has ended

Posted by ThucydidesJones@reddit | thegrandtour | View on Reddit | 36 comments

I know folks are bit mixed about the workshop show, with questions about just how dire the financial/business situation portrayed really is or is not in reality, but I thought this season ended really strongly.

I like Jamie's presence, and Isaac has quickly grown into an entertaining cast member. The whole D-Day storyline was pretty cool too. And racing is never boring.

Haven't seen official confirmation of a S5, but I'd for sure watch it if they did one.

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PRSArchon@reddit

Are there actually people here that think his workshop business is profitable? Lol

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DecksDarkAlien@reddit

It’s clear that he does a lot of favors which are not profitable. While I am not familiar with UK tax laws but those losses should be a tax write-off.

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PRSArchon@reddit

Tax write offs don't create money, he has no profit so he doesnt even have any tax on profit to write off.

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DecksDarkAlien@reddit

I know but it would reduce his tax liability.

I’m not saying he’s making any money. He obviously isn’t.

Also, what he earns from the show can offset losses as well.

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idekwtp@reddit

I mean it has its own tv show which probably boosts the margins a little bit

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PRSArchon@reddit

That is a seperate company with their own expenses, revenue and profit

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ThucydidesJones@reddit (OP)

There seems to be a line of thought that roughly claims, "Hammond is super rich and has connections, there's no way his business is ever actually struggling."

I could see some of the drama being drummed up a bit for TV, but yeah I don't subscribe to the idea that it is entirely theatre.

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PRSArchon@reddit

Hammond is rich and has connections, but rich people don't pay him for charity. There is no way the workshop is currently profitable yet paying all that staff, equipment write off, rent, etc. I'm sure the income from Discovery helps though, but without it there is no way.

Do people also think Clarksons farm or James Mays pub is earning them money just because they are rich and famous? It's just expensive hobbies for them which they can get some nice tv content from as a side income. If the business itself breaks even they'll be happy already.

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aguidetothegoodlife@reddit

Clarkson farm even did the calculations on show so you know he made a profit. Like 50$ or whatever it was. And his farm shop works insanely well

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Guuggel@reddit

Didn’t Clarksons calculations include the new equipment he bought aswell as a lump sum? Usually they are financed etc so the profit calculation is not that straight forward.

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PRSArchon@reddit

Exactly, he needs some creative calculation to get to 50$ prodit, he didnt even count all the time he put in himself. Who would work a year fulltime for 50$?

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Rab_Kendun@reddit

It will take him many years to recuperate that.

How much will they pay him for his role as Buttons?

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ashburn991@reddit

I don’t think it needs to be in the conventional sense

To most auto shop owners, running a business as such might not be profitable. The difference in this case is you have TV money to offset the cost. The TV + workshop business is definitely profitable

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GeoHog713@reddit

I like the show but I wish they'd show more of Neil's work, and less of the "have to keep the shop afloat" drama

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Weeb_mgee@reddit

fr, seeing him fix up those panels on the rolls was great to see. You can really tell how good of a craftsman he is

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Altodial@reddit

That was the deal with wheeler dealers. I wanted to see Ed fix cars not the other guy pretend to buy and sell cars.

With hammond its different i would watch anyways.

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wosmo@reddit

Totally - I'ma middle-aged dork that's happy just to watch them futz with interesting cars. I'm "take it or leave it" on the racing, let alone the drama.

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k_d_b_83@reddit

I wish there was a way to watch without the discovery subscription.

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1llseemyselfout@reddit

Even with it you can’t watch it in America. It’s absolutely stupid. I don’t get why Amazon didn’t try to pick it up.

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blackdenton@reddit

So disappointed, my motortrend subscription got converted into discovery+ and I was like oh well at least I can watch the workshop show now. Tried a bunch of VPN country switching too but can't figure out a way to pay to watch it in USA.

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TylerInHiFi@reddit

This is why I’m back to just pirating shit that isn’t on Disney+ or isn’t available as a season pass on iTunes. Disney seems to be the only company that actually wants people to be able to easily give them money in exchange for the ability to watch their content. I’ve cancelled everyone else and just download and throw things on my Apple TV shared drive now. Fuck em. This is why piracy started in the first place.

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k_d_b_83@reddit

Damn. I’m in Canada and Amazon even screws with which episodes of top gear I can watch.

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Max_Downforce@reddit

🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

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Substantial__Unit@reddit

Same here!! I really believe in supporting them but idk what Discovery is nowadays

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BiffLogan@reddit

I hadn’t even heard of this (located in US). Is it just called “Hammond’s Workshop”?

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wosmo@reddit

"Richard Hammond's Workshop". It's on Discovery's steaming service in europe, no idea about the US.

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luvmy374@reddit

If anyone knows how to watch in the US please post it here. TIA!

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snowmunkey@reddit

So it's like those old school discovery channel shows where the gold miners or crab fisherman are constantly on the verge of bankruptcy and yet if you Google the people on the show they live very handsomely on a fat TV show paycheck

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wosmo@reddit

eh, ish. There's never any illusion that Hammond's at risk, just that the business isn't quite self-sustaining yet.

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snowmunkey@reddit

Oh OK, that's better to hear

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feel-the-avocado@reddit

I definitley want to watch season 5.

Does the UK companies office publish company ownership information?
They talk about how Neil is a partner in the business but lately they have switched to hammond being the one who owns it so I am interested to know if Neil actually does have an ownership share or if he is just an employee.

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wosmo@reddit

any wealthy person will know that if they put money into something, it needs to pay its way

It seems like that's easily missed. Having money doesn't mean the business will do well, it just changes what runway he has before he has to chuck it in.

I mean if it has no hope of returning a profit, then it's a hobby. Perhaps he can afford to keep a hobby going, but that doesn't mean it's performing as a business.

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