Learn about the stage history of 'The Celebrity Traitors' cast

The incredible Traitors series two line-up, including Richard E. Grant and Michael Sheen, have plenty of great theatre experience.

Summary

• The Celebrity Traitors is a big hit on BBC One thanks to its fabulously dramatic cast
• Many of them have theatre experience in plays and musicals
• This year's stars include Michael Sheen, Richard E. Grant and Miranda Hart

The most gripping drama on TV right now isn’t a scripted series but a reality show: The Celebrity Traitors. This all-star edition of the BBC’s hit murder mystery contest was one of the highlights of 2025, and now it's back with another incredible all-star line-up, ready to do battle over the Round Table.

The Traitors works like the classic parlour games Wink Murder or Werewolf. Presenter Claudia Winkleman secretly chooses three of the contestants to be the Traitors: they must murder the Faithfuls, one by one, while hiding their identities. It’s up to the Faithfuls to banish who they think is a Traitor, after a spirited discussion at the Round Table.

The show had already gripped the nation in its previous civilian series, thanks to the gasp-worthy twists, unbearably tense elimination votes, and the wonderfully over-the-top gothic styling – as exemplified by Winkleman. But this celebrity version proved even more popular last year, thanks partly to its dynamite line-up, and we've got another treat in store with series two.

It certainly helps that the fabulously theatrical casts of Celebrity Traitors have stage pedigree, appearing in plays and musicals in the West End and beyond. As you prepare for the next nail-biting Round Table, learn more about the Traitors cast and their history of treading the boards.

You can also now play the game yourself in The Traitors – Live Experience, plus there's a new Traitors stage show (Traitors - Acts of Betrayal) in the works – hosted by none other than past contestant Nick Mohammed. Theatre and Traitors are a perfect match!

The Celebrity Traitors – series two

Richard E. Grant

The debonair actor is probably best known for his iconic movie Withnail and I, but he has plenty of theatre experience too. He’s currently starring in the West End as well as on the BBC: in the anarchic Noël Coward comedy Hay Fever, alongside Christine Baranski. Grant’s previous stage work includes My Fair Lady, God of Carnage, Otherwise Engaged, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Importance of Being Earnest.

Book Hay Fever tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Jerry Hall

The glamorous American model and actress also has stage pedigree. She made her debut in Bus Stop in 1988, and reprised the role at the West End’s Lyric Theatre a couple of years later. She then famously played the seductive Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, and her subsequent work included The Vagina Monologues, Picasso’s Women, and a West End revival of musical High Society.

Michael Sheen

The four-time Olivier-nominated actor has an extensive theatre CV, including notable performances in Romeo and Juliet, Peer Gynt, The Seagull, The Homecoming, Henry V, Frost/Nixon, Hamlet, Under Milk Mood, Nye, and Our Town. In 2027, he’s starring in a major West End revival of Amadeus, playing Salieri to fellow Welsh actor Callum Scott Howells’s Mozart.

Book Amadeus tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Myha’la

The star of gripping TV drama Industry actually got her start in musical theatre: she played Nabulungi in the US national tour of The Book of Mormon. Myha’la also did numerous other shows during her time studying at Carnegie Mellon, including AIDA, Jekyll & Hyde, and Once on This Island, so watch out for some thespian shape-shifting from her in the castle.

Julie Hesmondhalgh

The acclaimed actress has impressed on screen, in programmes like Coronation Street, and on stage: she won an Olivier Award earlier this year for the remarkable James Graham play Punch. Her other stage work includes Blindsided, Wit, and Mother Courage and Her Children at Manchester Royal Exchange, and God Bless the Child at the Royal Court.

Miranda Hart

Red-headed children, beware: in 2017, the beloved comedian and actress tapped into her villainous side when she played Miss Hannigan in a West End production of Annie. That might also point to a certain ruthlessness on Traitors. Her other stage credits (in addition to her stand-up experience) include Cruising at the Bush Theatre and Come Out Eli at Battersea Arts Centre.

Romesh Ranganathan

Last year, the successful stand-up comedian and presenter made his belated, but very well received, official theatre debut when he joined Sheridan Smith for the West End production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Woman in Mind. He also made a guest appearance in Inside No. 9: Stage/Fright – so he’s no stranger to a thrilling, suspenseful ride like Traitors.

Ross Kemp

The EastEnders legend-turned-documentary filmmaker got his first job in theatre: appearing alongside industry titans John Thaw and Richard Wilson in Staircase at the Palace Theatre in Westcliff-on-Sea. He also appeared in Fur Coat and No Knickers and The Wizard of Oz at the Palace, and later played the evil Henchman in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at New Wimbledon Theatre.

Sebastian Croft

Best known for his recent role as Ben Hope on TV favourite Heartstopper, Croft began on stage as a child actor. He was in Oliver! in the West End, then played Gavroche in Les Misérables, and his other work included Matilda the Musical, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, King John, and, opposite Eileen Atkins at Chichester Festival Theatre, 4000 Miles.

The Celebrity Traitors – series one

Stephen Fry

The former QI host became the hallowed leader of the Faithfuls in series one, even making the clever, and radical, suggestion that they just write down names at the Round Table to avoid herd mentality taking hold. Alas, that didn’t happen, but Fry still took centre stage – as he also did in the West End last year in the gloriously queer revival of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.

Fry starred as the formidable Lady Bracknell in the production, which meant he gets to utter the immortal line “A handbag?”. It was a welcome return to theatre for the esteemed actor, writer and presenter, who last acted opposite Mark Rylance in Twelfth Night at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2012, and previously appeared in The Common Pursuit and Cell Mates.

Paloma Faith

The singer was the first shock kill of the season – and murdered by her best friend Alan Carr, no less, when he touched her face with deadly poison. Never has her song “Only Love Can Hurt Like This” rung so true, nor have we enjoyed quite such a fabulously theatrical moment on TV as Faith lying in a coffin while the lid slams shut.

Although she’s primarily known for her music, Faith clearly has a taste for drama (she definitely made the most of her early Traitors exit with brilliant social media videos!), and in 2024 she appeared on stage in one-person play White Rabbit, Red Rabbit at @sohoplace, the brilliant high-wire show in which the performer doesn’t get to see the script beforehand.

Celia Imrie

She fully earned national treasure status after her Traitors performance, thanks to her shrewd insights coupled with the instantly iconic wailing down a well and nervously letting one rip. But Imrie also has a long and distinguished career on stage, beginning with the Royal Shakespeare Company back in 1975.

Over the years, she has successfully mixed serious drama with comedy, everything from performing opposite Judi Dench in The Sea at the National Theatre and doing plays like The Hothouse, Hay Fever and Noises Off to winning an Olivier Award for Acorn Antiques: The Musical!. Most recently she co-starred with Tamsin Greig in Backstroke at the Donmar Warehouse.

Mark Bonnar

The zealous Scottish actor was determined to ferret out the Traitors, although his outlandish reactions to the group’s failures (such as mistakenly booting out Tameka Empson and Clare Balding) in turn made him look suspicious – always fatal on this show. Bonnar couldn't quite draw on his thespian experience to change the narrative.

His theatrical history includes performances in The Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic, Philistines and Cyrano de Bergerac at the National Theatre, and Parade at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2024 he starred opposite Anne-Marie Duff in American family drama The Little Foxes at the Young Vic.

Tameka Empson

She ran afoul of Bonnar and was banished for supposedly changing her behaviour after Claudia Winkleman picked the Traitors – but Empson was always a Faithful. The actress is a panto favourite, so there was probably a reference or two to her unfair elimination last Christmas. She’s a Traitor! Oh no she isn’t!

As well as being a regular at Hackney Empire’s joyful pantomimes, Empson has also performed a variety show with DJ Kat B called The Kat and Tameka Show, and she was an original cast member in Madness and Tim Firth musical Our House, which won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2003.

Nick Mohammed

The puzzle maestro and keen strategic thinker, Mohammed made it all the way to the end – only to second guess his deducations at the last minute. Though now best known for Ted Lasso, the comedian and actor has plenty of stage experience, often appearing as his alter ego Mr Swallow.

In 2024 he performed a new spin on a festive favourite, A Christmas Carol (ish) at @sohoplace, with Mr Swallow hilariously entering Charles Dickens’s world. He also made a guest appearance in West End thriller Inside No. 9 – Stage Fright. In 2027 he stars as the Claudia-esque host in the keenly anticipated stage show The Traitors – Acts of Betrayal, making its world premiere at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in the West End.

Lucy Beaumont

The safest place to be in The Traitors is generally in the middle of the pack, keeping fairly quiet so you don’t draw attention to yourself. That could well have been Beaumont’s strategy going into the show, and it paid off for a while – but she still fell afoul of the Traitors.

Beaumont made her professional debut at Hull Truck Theatre, doing shows such as Amanda Whittington’s Ladies’ Day, and also performed in productions at York Theatre Royal and West Yorkshire Playhouse. She has largely concentrated on her successful comedy career since, but perhaps The Traitors has reignited her passion for a juicy drama.

Charlotte Church

The Welsh songbird did use her musical superpowers in a Traitors mission – though she probably never imagined she’d be listening to banshee wails by sticking her head down a well. Her determination to speak her voice made her vulnerable however, as the Traitors soon had her in their sights, as did a few mistaken Faithfuls.

Church impressed on stage in 2016 in The Last Mermaid at Wales Millennium Centre. She co-wrote this experimental adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fable with Siôn Trefor and Jonathan Powell, and also starred in it, playing the titular mermaid who tries to understand life on dry land.

Alan Carr

The most astonishing and unexpected performance in The Celebrity Traitors came from presenter Carr, who initially seemed like a mad choice as one of the murderous trio. In fact, he proved to be a brilliant Traitor, using his lovable, giggly persona as a mask and coolly assessing the behaviour of the clueless Faithfuls.

Carr also surprised and delighted audiences at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2022 when he made a heavenly cameo appearance in musical Sister Act, dressed as the Pope. The following year he popped up again in panto Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in Northampton, playing the magic mirror.

Claudia Winkleman

Presiding over the contestants in a series of insanely amazing outfits is The Traitors’ presenter extraordinaire. The show simply wouldn’t be the same without Winkleman’s gothic flair – she’s theatrical to the tips of her leather-gloved fingers. Although even she had to smile when Imrie owned up to farting in the shed during a mission.

Winkleman has a stage history too, even if she hasn’t acted in shows herself. In 2013 she joined West End leading man Michael Xavier to host an event in Covent Garden during the Olivier Awards, in celebration of audience award winner Billy Elliot: The Musical. After this incredible series, perhaps a Traitors musical will be next?

Main photo credit: The Celebrity Traitors series two cast (photo courtesy of the show). Inset: Richard E. Grant and Christine Baranski in Hay Fever, Callum Scott Howells and Michael Sheen in Amadeus, Julie Hesmondhalgh and Tony Hirst in Punch, Romesh Ranganathan and Sheridan Smith in Woman in Mind, Stephen Fry in The Importance of Being Earnest, Tamsin Greig and Celia Imrie in Backstroke, Nick Mohammed in The Traitors – Acts of Betrayal, Claudia Winkleman at the Olivier Awards (photos by Marc Brenner, courtesy of the production, Marc Brenner, Johan Persson, Euan Chery, Pamela Raith)