Detective, Novelist And Psychologist Join The Traitors

If you thought last year’s Traitors was tense, BBC One is turning the dial up again from New Year’s Day. The new series drops 22 strangers into a Scottish castle where alliances, suspicion and nightly “murders” decide who walks away with £120,000. The cast is a deliberate mix of people who could either spot a lie from a mile off or be brilliant at telling one. Among them is Harriet Tyce, 52 — a bestselling thriller writer and former criminal barrister whose back catalogue includes Lessons in Cruelty and The Lies You Told. Tyce says her experience inventing grisly plots on the page and arguing in court gives her useful tools for the game, but plans to downplay her writing credentials and present herself more as a housewife and mother to avoid early suspicion. Also entering the castle is Amanda, a 57-year-old retired police detective from Brighton. Decades of interviewing suspects and victims, she says, taught her how to piece together truth from deception — skills that could make her a formidable faithful or a very convincing traitor. For the first time the show appears to include a psychologist. Ellie, 33, hopes to use her understanding of human bonds and persuasion to influence the roundtable votes and admits she may conceal her profession to avoid preconceptions. Her stated tactic: build trust quickly, because at the roundtable people often vote on who they’ve bonded with as much as on who looks suspicious. Other contestants give the cast a colourful, everyday feel — a sweet shop assistant called Reece, an outspoken builder named Adam, a poker-playing gardener called James, alongside a cybersecurity specialist and a personal trainer. The variety is part of the format’s charm: ordinary backgrounds facing off against professions that specialise in deception or detection. Host Claudia Winkleman has teased a new twist in what she called a “brutal” series, promising more misdirection and pressure as the group tackles joint missions, nightly eliminations and frequent failed attempts to unmask the traitors. The show returns to BBC One and iPlayer after the celebrity edition in October and November, which saw comedian Alan Carr emerge victorious. At its heart, The Traitors remains a social experiment — part whodunnit, part psychological endurance test. This season’s casting suggests producers are leaning into that duality: can real-world investigative experience beat charm and cunning? Expect bluffs, alliances and the occasional unexpected betrayal. --- Managing your business finances? TaxAce provides smart online accountancy services for UK businesses with flexible monthly plans. Image and reporting: https://www.theguardian.com | Read original article