Hunted (2015 TV series)

In both the civilian and celebrity series, the contestants, now regarded as Fugitives, voluntarily go on the run in mainland Great Britain and must avoid detection from the Hunters, a group of current and former police and intelligence officials for 25 days (28 in the first two series and 14 for the celebrity series). From series 2, the contestants are escorted to a public area and given a head start before the Hunters begin their search and are given the names of their targets. Fugitives are given a debit card with a small amount of money provided by the production team, and a rucksack containing essential and personal items (though in series 5, the fugitives began with only the clothes on their back) During their time on the run the Fugitives can use any existing connections, or ask members of the general public, to assist them in avoiding capture.

Whilst the Fugitives attempt to avoid using technology and thus detection, the Hunters use a vast array of different "powers of the state", such as closed surveillance, phone records and number plate recognition to pinpoint their chosen target. If one (or more) Fugitives have become difficult to locate, the Hunters use social media to encourage members of the public to reveal any information, and post content specifically for a Fugitive to reveal their location without realizing. Hunters may also be directly contacted by the public with any leads by telephone. Any member of the public with information leading to capture is compensated for their effort. Hunters additionally operate throughout the country through use of two-person ground teams that can deploy immediately under order of the Chief, the ground teams also perform reconnaissance at Fugitives' homes and attempt to goad family members and/or loved ones for information and may be observed to determine any irregularities in their daily routines.

When a Fugitive is caught, they're told their time on the run is over and are escorted to a vehicle for debrief back at the Hunters headquarters.

In the final few days of the game, any Fugitives still on the run are given instructions of their 'extraction point' and a finite amount of time to get there. The Hunters are told of the last-known locations of the Fugitives and extend their efforts to figure out where the extraction is taking place. When a Fugitive successfully reaches the extraction point within the time-frame, they can no longer be caught by the Hunters are deemed as the Winner. Due to the nature of the show, there are two possible outcomes to the hunt. One or more Fugitives can reach the extraction point and win whilst the opposite can occur where every Fugitive is caught and the hunt prematurely ends (known as a "clean sweep").

A team of 30 specialists includes former and serving police and intelligence personnel, an ex CIA agent and cyber intelligence experts, who use the fugitives' online footprints to research and hunt them. The team has access to replicated powers of the state, including CCTV and ANPR. Before starting, all the fugitives gave permission to be tracked in the same way as the state might track a fugitive – their cash cards and phones are monitored, their houses searched and their friends and family questioned. The hunters also use media campaigns to recruit the general public into helping them, offering financial incentives.[3] The team is split into two parts: (i) a team of operatives in the field who are in vehicles across the UK, on standby to follow orders from Hunted HQ to head to a particular location to follow up leads on fugitives' whereabouts or to question their friends and family; and (ii) a team in the Hunted HQ to gather Intelligence, which they then distribute to field teams. In 2020, for Series 5, investigative Reporter Mark Williams-Thomas joined as Head of Special Operations.

A celebrity series was confirmed by Channel 4 in 2017 with their appearance fees donated to Stand up To Cancer. The rules for the celebrity edition remained the same as the Hunted series, but the celebrities are given fourteen days to evade capture.

Each fugitive was filmed by a dedicated cameraperson, who followed the fugitives wherever they went. While filming, the production team was split so that the team working with the hunters was separate from the team working with the fugitives, to prevent information passing between the groups and to provide a more realistic experience. In preparing for production, over 800 Freedom of Information requests were submitted to find the location of state-owned CCTV cameras positioned throughout the British mainland. When real footage could not be obtained, Channel 4 cameras captured footage that would have been available to the state, which was stored on a central database for the hunters to access if they wished. However, they had to "officially" request the information as if it were a real fugitive hunt.[7] The hunters were overseen by an independent adjudicator, former Head of Covert Operations for the Metropolitan Police, Kevin O’Leary, whose job was to make sure that the information requested and gathered by the hunters reflected the information that would be available to them in real life and within the appropriate time frame. He was the only person who had the power to release information to the hunters and would only do so when he considered that the hunters had done sufficient detective work to justify access to the information.[8]

Episode ratings are taken from BARB and include Channel 4 +1.[9]

The Telegraph review complimented the series, saying the "game show element was very effective, playing with our instinctive tendency to take the side of the pursued, and skilfully edited to keep the tension high."[10] The Daily Mirror's Adam Postan described the series as "the biggest TV joke of the year", pointing out that most of the surveillance powers were replicated by methods that were unexplained.[11]

In the US, the show is produced by Endemol Shine North America under the same title Hunted, which premiered on 22 January 2017 on CBS.[12]

In Spain, the show is produced by Movistar+ in collaboration with Shine Iberia under the title La huida ("The Escape"), which premiered on 8 April 2016 on #0.[13]

In Denmark, the show is produced by Metronome Productions A/S under the title Menneskejagt ("Manhunt"), which premiered on 24 August 2016 on DR3.[14]

In Russia, the show is produced by WeiT Media under the title Охота ("The Hunt"),[15] which premiered on 17 September 2016 on free-to-air network NTV.[16]

In Netherlands, the show is produced by Simpel Media commissioned by AVROTROS under the same title Hunted, which premiered on 17 October 2016 on NPO3.[17]

In France, the show is produced by Endemol Shine Group and commissioned by RMC Découverte under the title Escape, 21 jours pour disparaître ("Escape, 21 days to disappear"),which is set to premier in 2018.

In Italy, Celebrity Hunted will be the first non-fiction Italian product of Amazon Prime Video, which commissioned it to Endemol Shine Group. Production started in 2019.

Legend:

     Currently airing franchise

     Franchise with an upcoming season

     Franchise no longer airing

     Status unknown

Country/Region	Title	Network(s)	Winners
Denmark	Menneskejagt	DR3	Season 1, 2016: ?
France	Escape, 21 jours pour disparaître	RMC Story RMC Découverte	Season 1, 2018: Jean-Philippe Season 2, 2019: Sabrina & Aurélie
Italy	Celebrity Hunted: Caccia all'uomo	Amazon Prime Video Italy	Season 1, 2020: Claudio Santamaria & Francesca Barra; Fedez & Luis Sal
Netherlands	Hunted	NPO 3	Season 1, 2016: Evert Kramer Season 2, 2017: Omar Abdelkarim Season 3, 2018: Sophie Goderie Season 4, 2019: Koen Vinken & Juul Kennis
Russia	Охота	NTV	Season 1, 2016: ?
Spain	La huida	#0	Season 1, 2016: Antonio & Roberto
United States	Hunted	CBS	Season 1, 2017: English King & Stephen King; Lee Wilson & Hilmar Skagfield

• Official website
• Hunted on IMDb