The Global Story: The battle to save James Bond from becoming slop
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Casting is finally underway for a new James Bond. But why has it taken five years to even begin the search?
Since Daniel Craig retired as Bond in 2021, there have been reports of a behind-the-scenes David and Goliath battle between the family business which has held creative control of the franchise since the 1960s and its new owners, Amazon. It is now up to Jeff Bezos’s tech giant to decide who will play 007 – and how to run the series.
In an era when Hollywood studios are desperate to eke out every last dollar from movie franchises, can James Bond retain its mystique and appeal to a new generation of cinema goers?
We speak to Wall Street Journal enterprise reporter Erich Schwartzel.
The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.3 | If American politics is leaving you with a lot of questions, you're not alone. |
| 0:12.3 | On America's, we chat through what's really going on. |
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| 0:23.8 | Hi there. I'm Asma Khalid. And I'm Tristan Redmond. And we're the hosts of the global |
| 0:29.2 | story podcast from the BBC. And we're here with a bonus episode for you. Now, if you are new to our |
| 0:34.6 | show, let me just take a moment to explain a bit about what we do. |
| 0:44.5 | Every weekday, we dive deep into one big story in depth that looks at where the world and America meet. |
| 0:51.5 | This week, we've been exploring the growth of predictions markets and why they're being targeted towards young guys. |
| 0:56.2 | These prediction markets are marketed to young men as quite a fun way to get involved in gambling, but the real money is going towards the hedge funds who, in the word of |
| 1:01.6 | one commentary who spoke to, said that they're essentially eating their lunch. We've also been |
| 1:05.7 | looking into why Hassan Piker and another left-wing American commentator were barred from entering the UK. |
| 1:12.3 | Ultimately, it's a damning indictment on civil society and the flourishing of democracy or lack |
| 1:18.1 | thereof in the UK. |
| 1:19.7 | And now that scientists are warning that a super Godzilla El Nino could be on its way, |
| 1:25.4 | how have similar climate events shaped history? |
| 1:28.6 | Humanitarian crises, environmental crises, price shocks, economic shocks are great for those |
| 1:35.1 | in positions of power because they are very closely correlated towards high levels of |
| 1:39.3 | centralisation. If you want to hear these stories in full and listen to our new episodes every day, |
| 1:46.9 | just search for the global Story wherever you listen. |
| 1:55.9 | For now, here's one of our favorite shows this week about the future of the James Bond franchise and whether it can interest Gen Z. |
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