Production studio Goalhanger is launching a ten-part audio drama following a fictional British mission to assassinate the President of Russia.
Called Bear Hunt, the series is the first new release from Goalhanger Drama, which is planning further original productions for 2027.
Described by the company as a “British Bourne”, Bear Hunt will debut on September 10, when its first two episodes will be made available across major podcast platforms. Further instalments will be released weekly.
The geopolitical action thriller begins with the deaths of 350 British civilians in an incident attributed to Russia. As a British prime minister attempts to retaliate, the story moves between Westminster, Washington and the battlefield before following a mission behind enemy lines.
Bear Hunt was created by Goalhanger’s Joel Emery and Adam Jarrell, the team behind its audio drama Sherlock & Co. It was developed with input from current and former military and defence professionals, including serving airborne serviceman and military adviser Sergeant Dave Allen.
Goalhanger co-founder Tony Pastor 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 (Operation) 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.”
Emery and Jarrell said: “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 different genre and it’s exactly the kind of ambitious, original storytelling we want to build more of with Goalhanger Drama.”
Donald Pirie leads the cast as Sergeant Tom MacDuff, known as Duffy. Thomas Mitchells plays Prime Minister Alex Kernoway, with Naomi Miller as director of intelligence Mel Murray, Michael Lyle as Addie Azikiwe, Lauren Ingram as Miriam Brann, Freddie Trenholme as Sergeant Shaun Wade and Luke Jasztal as former spymaster Sir Pilgrim Moore. The ensemble comprises more than 50 voice actors.
