Dame Joanna Lumley has admitted she cannot work out why Celebrity Traitors is so popular, despite being a devoted viewer of the BBC One show. The actress, who has watched the celebrity spin-off with her husband, confessed she was initially sceptical before becoming hooked.
A sceptic turned fan
Speaking at the Aldeburgh Comedy Weekend in Suffolk, Dame Joanna revealed she missed the first civilian series of The Traitors and doubted the hype. However, the first Celebrity Traitors changed her mind because she knew people taking part.
She said: 'I didn't see the very first Traitors we had, but everybody was telling me about it, and I thought, how good can this be? Then the first Celebrity Traitors came on, because I knew people in it, I thought, we'll watch this. My husband and I got completely hooked on it.'
The show's appeal
Despite her enthusiasm, Dame Joanna admitted she cannot pinpoint the secret of its success. She laughed: 'People say, would you be a Traitor or would you be a Faithful? And the thing is, you can't choose.'
The celebrity version has proved a ratings winner, with the BBC confirming 15.7 million viewers tuned into the first episode of season 2 and 15.2 million for the second. The series recently concluded with Faithfuls Romesh Ranganathan and Sebastian 'Bash' Croft winning a joint £83,000 for their charities.
Other TV favourites
Dame Joanna also praised the prison drama Time, calling it 'so gloomy' but brilliantly done, and declared the Australian comedy Colin from Accounts 'the best television ever made'. She said: 'I thought Colin from Accounts was going to be a dull office programme. It's Australian, and I think it's just a shining beacon.'
The 80-year-old will return as Felicity in the Amandaland Christmas special on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, describing the episode as 'heaven on a stick'.
