The actress admitted she had turned down a huge BBC show
Samantha King Content Editor
19:40, 19 Oct 2025
Miriam Margolyes played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films(Image: Warner Bros)
A Harry Potter star has disclosed that she turned down an invitation to take part in the BBC’s celebrity version of The Traitors.
The Celebrity Traitors is currently broadcasting on BBC One twice weekly, featuring 19 well-known personalities competing as Faithfuls and Traitors for a charitable cash prize.
The star-studded line-up for the new series includes chat show presenter Jonathan Ross, comedian Alan Carr and broadcaster Stephen Fry, with Claudia Winkleman returning as host.
Actress Miriam Margolyes, who portrayed Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, revealed she had been invited to participate in the programme but declined the offer.
Miriam Margolyes said there was no way she would do the show(Image: David Levenson, Getty Images)READ MORE: Claudia Winkleman told off by Celebrity Traitors producers for dropping cluesREAD MORE: Celebrity Traitors new star joining BBC show ‘unveiled’ and they are a very famous face
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival whilst promoting her latest book, The Little Book Of Miriam, the 84-year-old performer criticised the series, confessing there was nothing “I’d rather less do”, despite having never viewed it, reports the Daily Record.
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather less do,” she declared. “No, I’m not into that. I’ve never watched it, I don’t intend to watch it. There is some jolly good people doing it.
“And if they want to do it for money, well, that’s fair enough but you won’t get me on it.”
New episodes of The Celebrity Traitors air on Wednesdays and Thursdays(Image: BBC)
So far, three celebrities have been ‘murdered’ on the series: singer Paloma Faith, Olympian Tom Daley and actress Ruth Codd. Meanwhile, another three – YouTuber Niko Omilana, EastEnders star Tameka Empson and broadcaster Clare Balding – were all banished by their fellow contestants after being suspected of being a Traitor.
The actual Traitors in the game are Jonathan Ross, Alan Carr and singer Cat Burns, who were all assigned this role at the beginning of the series.
However, Jonathan has been increasingly under scrutiny after he was accused of promising to form an ‘alliance’ with Niko, Clare and Ruth, only to quickly vote to banish Niko.
The Celebrity Traitors is currently airing on BBC One(Image: BBC)
Viewers will have to wait a few more days to see what drama unfolds in the next episode as the show is broadcast twice a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Celebrity Traitors series will consist of nine episodes, while the civilian series runs for 12.
Speaking about the star-studded series, host Claudia confessed that she had attempted to give “big clues” to the celebrities during the challenges, which had landed her in trouble with the programme’s bosses.
The Celebrity Traitors airs Wednesday and Thursday at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer
