Eight series across civilian and celebrity versions commissioned up to 2030

The BBC is holding onto its entertainment crown jewel after agreeing a three-year deal to keep The Traitors and The Celebrity Traitors on BBC1 and iPlayer.

The Studio Lambert Scotland-produced series, which has propelled the All3Media Dutch format to global success, will remain on the BBC until at least 2030.

The commitment reflects the corporation’s “ongoing investment in original, high-impact entertainment”, according to the BBC, and the “landmark deal” fixes iPlayer’s position as the UK home of the Traitors franchise – with the local adaptation sitting alongside international versions from the US (also produced by Studio Lambert) Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

RATINGS

It comes after a bumper ratings performance for both the civilian and celebrity versions of the format, the latter of which made its debut last year.

Having built audiences over its initial eight episodes, The Celebrity Traitors finale smashed past the 10m mark to reach an overnight figure of 11.1m (62.3%), peaking with 12m at 10pm.

The performance led to the franchise holding the top five positions for the most-watched overnights in 2025 on BBC1.

Its most recent fourth civilian run continued to break its own records on the BBC, drawing 9.4m (54.9%) for its closer in January. The opener of that series added 5m to its overnight figure to hit 11.1m (46.2%) after 28 days, based on Barb data, provided by overnights.tv.

According to the BBC’s own figures, the fourth series achieved a 12.5m 28-day average, up +22% on its third series (10.3m), with most of the viewing coming on BBC iPlayer – making up 6.6m of the audience (53%) and increasing +28% on the third series.

Kalpna Patel-Knight, head of entertainment commissioning at the BBC, said: “We are proud to remain faithful to The Traitors and The Celebrity Traitors until 2030 and wanted to say a big thank you to the outstanding team at Studio Lambert Scotland for bringing it to screen.”

Stephen Lambert, chief executive of Studio Lambert added: “The Traitors has become a genuine television phenomenon across the world, but especially in the UK, and we’re thrilled to continue the journey with the BBC.

“It’s hugely exciting that audiences will have many more years of strategy, suspense and shocking twists still to come.”

Series five will return to BBC1 and iPlayer in 2027, followed by series six in 2028, series seven in 2029 and series eight in 2030 (all 12 x 60 minutes).

The Celebrity Traitors series two (10 x 60 minutes) will return later this year and will be followed by series three in 2027, series four in 2028 and series five in 2029 (all 10 x 60 minutes).

The Traitors S5 and The Celebrity Traitors S2 were commissioned by Patel-Knight. Exec producers for Studio Lambert Scotland are Mike Cotton, Sarah Fay, Lewis Thurlow and Darrell Olsen with production executives Gemma Scholes, Lynette Woods-Reynolds and Faye Donaldson.

Commissioning editors for the BBC are Neil McCallum and Michael Jochnowitz.

Created in the Netherlands by All3Media’s IDTV, The Traitors format was further developed with the RTL Creative Unit and originally produced for local broadcaster RTL4. All3Media International sells globally.