Goalhanger launches “British Bourne” thriller about a mission to assassinate the Russian President

Goalhanger, the media company behind The Rest Is History, The Rest Is Politics and Sherlock & Co., is launching Bear Hunt, a major new ten-part original audio drama following a fictional mission to assassinate one of the world’s most powerful and heavily protected leaders.

Synopsis: 350 British civilians are dead, and Russia is responsible. Number 10 hits back as a hapless Prime Minister plays his hand in the age of regime decapitation. Billed as a “British Bourne”, Bear Hunt is a geopolitical action thriller spanning Westminster, Washington and the battlefield, before heading deep behind enemy lines on an extraordinarily dangerous mission.

Created by Goalhanger’s award-winning drama team, Joel Emery and Adam Jarrell, the series was developed with input from current and former military and defence professionals, including serving airborne serviceman and military adviser Sergeant Dave Allen, grounding its fictional world in real-world political, intelligence and operational detail.

Tony Pastor, Co-Founder of Goalhanger, said: “I first met Dave Allen in Arnhem in 2024, when Al Murray, James Holland and I were recording We Have Ways of Making You Talk for the 80th anniversary of Market Garden. A year later, walking our dogs on the Dorset coast, I asked him a hypothetical question: ‘If the British government decided to eliminate a foreign leader, how would we do it?’ Dave immediately replied: ‘Do you want your assassin back?’ And that was it. We were off. Every time Joel, Adam and I got a little fanciful with the story, Dave dragged us back to reality. The weapons, logistics and practicalities all had to stand up. Bear Hunt is completely fictional, but we wanted the world around it to feel frighteningly plausible.”

Joel Emery & Adam Jarrell, Creators of Bear Hunt added: “One of the great things about audio drama is that there’s almost no limit to the scale of the world you can build. With Bear Hunt, we can move from Downing Street to Washington, onto the battlefield and deep behind enemy lines, while the listener does so much of the visual work themselves. After Sherlock & Co., we wanted to take that freedom into a completely different genre and it’s exactly the kind of ambitious, original storytelling we want to build more of with Goalhanger Drama.”

The first two episodes of Bear Hunt will be released on 10 September, with new episodes released weekly. The series will be available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Following the success of the award-winning Sherlock & Co., Bear Hunt reunites several familiar voices from its ensemble alongside well-known names from elsewhere in the Goalhanger network, including Al Murray, co-host of We Have Ways of Making You Talk, and Dominic Sandbrook, co-host of The Rest Is History and The Book Club.

The cast also includes Thomas Mitchells as Prime Minister Alex Kernoway, Naomi Miller as Director of Intelligence Mel Murray, Michael Lyle as Addie Azikiwe, Lauren Ingram as Miriam Brann, Freddie Trenholme as Sgt. Shaun Wade and Luke Jasztal as former spymaster Sir Pilgrim Moore. Donald Pirie leads the cast as Sgt. Tom MacDuff “Duffy”, heading an international ensemble of more than 50 voice actors.

Bear Hunt is the first new release from Goalhanger Drama, with further original productions planned for 2027. It comes during a period of rapid growth for Goalhanger, recently named Britain’s fastest-growing private company in The Sunday Times 100, as the company continues to expand across audio, video, membership, live events and commercial partnerships, having recently brought its biggest shows together at London’s Southbank Centre for the inaugural three-day Goalhanger: The Rest Is Fest.

Bear Hunt will be released on 10 September, wherever you get your podcasts.