Samantha Bond rejects The Celebrity Traitors, but why?
Samantha Bond has revealed the one reason why she will refuse to do The Celebrity Traitors.
Samantha Bond has ruled out doing The Celebrity Traitors.
The actress plays a successful sleuth on U+Drama's The Marlow Murder Club, but Samantha refuses to solve which stars are Traitors as she is not a fan of the Claudia Winkleman-fronted BBC game show, which returns for a second series this year.
Samantha, 64, told the new issue of Woman's Weekly magazine: "I tried to get into it. I know Celia Imrie and Mark Bonnar, and I was aware of all the hype, but I just didn't get it.
"I watched the first episode. Then I watched two more, and I thought, 'That's an hour of my life I'll never get back.'"
However, the Miss Moneypenny legend understands why a batch of celebrities would want to enter Ardross Castle, Scottish Highlands, to sniff out the Traitors before they snatch the jackpot - worth up to £100,000 - from the Faithfuls in the final.
Samantha said: "If someone wins £100,000 for their chosen charity, that's significant."
Comedian Alan Carr, 49, won the first series of The Celebrity Traitors in November 2025, and donated his £87,500 winnings to Neuroblastoma UK after the star successfully remained undetected as a Traitor.
Samantha took part in BBC’s The Great Sport Relief Bake Off in 2014, which she described as "two of the most terrifying days of my life" because the Outnumbered star is "not a baker", and won ITV's Spelling Bee nine years earlier.
And her fundraising stints made a big difference to charities.
Reflecting on Spelling Bee, Samantha said: "Macmillan got £25,000 because I won. That paid for a nurse for a year. So when celebrities win money for charity, that's significant."
But what attracts Samantha to projects is a great script, which was the case for The Marlow Murder Club.
The cosy crime drama sees her character, retired archaeologist and crossword setter Judith Potts, enlist the help of her friends Becks Starling (Cara Horgan) and Suzie Harris (Jo Martin) after police shut down her story that a murder has taken place in the peaceful Buckinghamshire town.
And Samantha hailed The Marlow Murder Club - based on the novels of the same name by 54-year-old Sunday Times bestselling author Robert Thorogood - as "one of the happiest jobs [she’s] ever had".
In March 2025, she exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "I’ve been so lucky as I’ve done in theatre and television - so many extraordinary things - but this has got to be one of the happiest jobs I’ve ever had.
"And I think the other thing that has happened is word has gone out that it’s a happy, friendly set.
"It means that word travels in the business, and I know some members of the crew that have gone to the technical side as well. So actors want to come and do it, technicians want to come and do it, and that’s lovely.
"Filming day is incredibly long, incredibly hard work, and if you can be involved with that at a place of happiness and friendliness, it sure helps."
