- Goalhanger Films was co-founded in 2014 by Gary Lineker and Tony Pastor
Goalhanger, the podcast maker behind The Rest is History series, is shutting down its television production business to focus on audio content.
The media company has appointed a voluntary liquidator for Goalhanger Films, recent filings with Companies House show.
Founded in 2014 by football legend Gary Lineker and Tony Pastor, the former controller of sport for ITV, it has produced multiple sports documentaries over the past decade.
These include many programmes for the BBC, such as The Premier League Show, Rooney: The Man Behind the Goals, Hand of God: 30 Years On, and Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health.
It is separate from Goalhanger Podcasts, which makes some of the UK’s most popular podcasts, such as The Rest is Politics, both presented by ex-cabinet minister Rory Stewart and former Downing Street press secretary Alastair Campbell.
Pastor told entertainment website Deadline: ‘We effectively mothballed Films and set up a bespoke company concentrating on podcasts.
‘There was a period in which I ran them in tandem, but the growth of podcasts was so explosive, and television is challenged, so we’ve now done some housekeeping.’
Hit shows: Goalhanger – co-founded by football legend Gary Lineker (left) – produces The Rest is History, presented by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook (top right) and The Rest is Politics, hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart (bottom right)
According to Spotify’s latest rankings, Goalhanger produces four of the UK’s top ten most-listened-to podcasts.
Second on the list is The Rest is History, whose presenters – Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland – have both written best-selling history books and reportedly each make close to £1million per year from the series.
The Rest is Politics is in third position, that podcast’s US edition is eighth, and The Rest is Football, co-hosted by Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, takes the tenth spot.
Other programmes produced by Goalhanger include the history-focused Empire, audio drama Sherlock & Co, and the World War II-themed We Have Ways of Making You Talk, presented by James Holland and comedian Al Murray.
Many of these podcasts operate a revenue-sharing model, whereby Goalhanger and the hosts each earn a third of the profits they generate.
Aside from online broadcasts, they can make significant sums from hosting shows for live audiences.
Holland and Sandbrook compèred a concert in October at the Royal Albert Hall where they discussed the lives of composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, accompanied by a full orchestra.
Last month also saw Campbell and Stewart present a live episode of The Rest is Politics at London’s O2 Arena in front of an estimated 15,000 people.
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