James May shares retirement news as he admits 'I'm getting old'

James May has issued an update on his retirement plans after confessing: “I’m getting old.”

The Grand Tour star, 62, filmed his last episode with co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond last year for Amazon Prime Video. Now he’s landed a new show of his own – but is thinking about settling down.

James appeared on Virgin Radio UK to discuss his next steps, admitting: “I was thinking that I was going to retire because I’m getting quite old, but I realised the other day that I think retirement for people in this business is a bit like being a lobster and being cooked from cold.

“So you don’t realise when it’s over. It’s painless.”

Continuing the analogy, radio host Ryan Tubridy quizzed James: “What colour are you now?” as James confessed: “I think I’m getting quite pink, in a gammony way.”

James has instead landed a new Channel 5 show, James May’s Great Explorers, which debuts tonight (February 13).

Comparing the show to his previous endeavours, he admitted: “[On The Grand Tour] we never went anywhere unexplored as far as I know. We were basically on elaborate holidays by comparison.

“The risks that people took setting off, especially in the 15th and 16th century, not knowing really what they were going to find, being completely out of communication within a few hours of leaving. It was so risky.”

The star has spoken previously about his career prospects after ending his partnership with Hammond and Clarkson. He told the Today Podcast: “We have to accept we’ve done it for almost 22 years. A lot longer than we thought we would.

“I thought when we started doing it in 2003 or 2004 I thought this was a bit of a laugh, maybe it’ll last a few years. And you know, here we are, grey and wisened and sagging and we’ve only just stopped doing it.

“It’s quite remarkable you have to be grateful for the opportunity and thankful that it happened and accept, well, I don’t want to be the man in the pub that ‘used to be on the telly'”.