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The Traitors' Soundtrack Is Built to Keep Viewers Guessing

Composer Sam Watts explains how the BBC series' camp, dark-but-fun score adds suspense and misdirection, shaped by host Claudia Winkleman's style

By AXY Entertainment Desk ·

Reporting via BBC Entertainment
Reporting via BBC Entertainment (BBC Entertainment)

Key points

The music of The Traitors is doing more work than many viewers may realise. In a report published by BBC Entertainment on 18 October 2026, the broadcaster said the soundtrack for the BBC reality competition, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, helps set the show's campy tone. A sinister orchestral flourish can hint at a double cross, while a cheeky chord can inject humour into a tense kitchen conversation. The composer behind the opening theme and much of the incidental score, Sam Watts, says he deliberately kept the music from becoming too bleak, even though the programme is built around murder and betrayal. The report also warns viewers not to take the soundtrack at face value, noting that the music can provide emphasis or act as misdirection, all at the producers' behest.

What the Soundtrack Is Doing on Screen

The BBC report starts from a simple observation: the music is never neutral. Viewers are used to reading a scene through its sound, often without thinking about it. A low, tense orchestral passage can tell them that something is about to go wrong, while a light, playful chord can puncture a serious moment and make it feel theatrical. Television producers use this technique constantly, but in a game built on lies, the effect carries extra weight. When a participant is about to be unmasked, or when someone appears to be telling the truth, the score can nudge the audience toward a conclusion before any evidence has been presented.

That is why the report describes the soundtrack as part of the show's machinery rather than decoration. The music can add emphasis to a moment the producers want the audience to notice. It can also work as misdirection, pointing viewers toward one suspect while the real story is elsewhere. Because the producers decide where and how cues are placed, the audience's emotional response is shaped as much by the editing room as by the players themselves.

The Format Behind the Music

For readers less familiar with the programme, The Traitors is a reality competition in which a group of contestants live together in a castle. Most are "Faithfuls" who must work together to complete challenges and build a prize pot. A smaller group are secretly chosen as traitors, whose aim is to remain undetected while removing the others one by one. The rest of the group must identify the traitors through discussion, observation and votes. The format originated in the Netherlands and has been adapted in several countries, with the British version built around the same mix of alliances, suspicion and public voting.

That structure explains why sound matters so much. The game depends on the audience being unable to tell who is lying. Every conversation, glance and absence can be interpreted in more than one way. In that environment, a soundtrack that signals tension or deception can change how a viewer reads the same footage. The score becomes a second narrator, one that is quieter than the presenter but just as capable of steering opinion.

Why a Murder Show Needed a Lighter Touch

The subject of the programme posed an obvious problem for its musical team. Watts recalled that the BBC was initially hesitant about a show with murder as a central feature. That caution shaped his approach. "I remember the BBC was quite reluctant to even think about a show with murder as a main feature, so I knew I didn't want the music to go really dark," he said, according to the BBC report.

The decision reflects a familiar balancing act in British factual entertainment. Programmes built on deception and conflict can easily become grim, which may put some viewers off and sit awkwardly with a public broadcaster that serves audiences of all ages. A score that is too sombre can make a game feel cruel rather than gripping. By keeping the music playful, the producers allowed the show to lean into its theatrical side, creating suspense without making the experience unpleasant to watch. In practical terms, the approach keeps the tension entertaining, which is central to the appeal of the format.

The same logic appears to extend to the show's other signature elements. The BBC report notes that the programme features cover versions of well-known pop songs, but Watts says he is not responsible for those. His own score works in the same spirit: serious enough to build tension, but never so solemn that the fun disappears.

From a Basic Brief to a Camp Sound

Watts had previously worked on the BBC nature documentary series Planet Earth and the children's drama The Sarah Jane Adventures, according to the report. When he pitched for The Traitors, he knew only the basic set-up of the programme. That meant he had to decide on the musical tone from limited information, a situation that is not unusual in television, where composers often work from outlines, rough cuts or early materials.

His turning point came when he learned who would host. Once he knew Claudia Winkleman was fronting the show, he had a clearer idea of the style it needed. "They sent me a little shot they'd done of the opening with Claudia and the castle. That's when I knew it was going to be a bit camp and high drama and all the glorious things that Claudia brings to the show. So I just went with that - dark but fun," Watts said.

This account offers a useful insight into how television music is commissioned. A presenter's personality and the visual language of the programme can guide a composer as strongly as a written brief. Here, the host's on-screen style became the reference point for the musical identity of the series, shaping decisions about tone, pace and the balance between menace and humour.

Writing a Theme Viewers Can Hum

For the title sequence, Watts wanted something instantly memorable. He is 44 years old, and as a child his favourite song was Bernard Hoffer's over-the-top theme for the animated series Thundercats, which was broadcast in the 1980s. That bold, theatrical sound set the level he aspired to for The Traitors. The opening theme, in other words, was designed to match the heightened energy of a show that asks its audience to take a game of betrayal very seriously while enjoying its excesses.

The practical purpose of the theme matters as much as its style. Watts explained that he wanted the opening to act as a signal, prompting viewers to stop what they were doing and sit down. "I was trying to write something that signified the show was starting, so that people would run in from making their cup of tea in the kitchen to watch it," he said.

He also wanted a melody audiences could remember. "And I wanted a memorable melody that people could hum, because it helps with the identity of the show," he said. In an era when viewers can skip intros, pause or watch episodes on demand, a distinctive theme can act as a brand marker. It links each episode to the wider series, helping audiences recognise the programme quickly and recall it between broadcasts. Analysts of television branding often point to such signature sounds as a way of building loyalty, though the BBC report does not measure this for The Traitors.

Music as Misdirection in a Game of Lies

The report's central warning is that viewers should be careful about what the soundtrack seems to suggest. Because the producers control how music is placed, a cue that appears to hint at betrayal may be designed to mislead as much as to inform. That fits the premise of the show, in which the audience is continually invited to question what it sees and hears. Every shift in the score can be a clue, and every clue can be a distraction.

This dual role is what makes the soundtrack an interesting part of the production. It supports the drama, but it is also part of the game. For viewers who enjoy trying to work out the traitors before the reveal, the music becomes another piece of evidence to weigh, and another possible trap. A sinister chord may point toward a suspect, or it may simply be there to keep everyone guessing. The skill for viewers is to listen closely without assuming the music is telling the full story.

What to Watch Next

The BBC report does not set out future plans for the show's music, and it does not confirm any changes to the score for coming series. What it does provide is a clear description of the approach: theatrical, playful and built around a memorable theme. Given that description, it is reasonable to expect the same principles to guide future episodes, but that remains an inference rather than a reported plan.

For audiences, the practical takeaway is that the score deserves as much attention as the dialogue. The next time a sinister chord rises as a player walks into a room, it may be doing exactly what Watts intended: setting the tone, shaping expectations and sending viewers in a direction that may or may not be correct. In a show where trust is the scarcest resource, the music is one more element that the audience is invited to question.

Topics: The Traitors, Sam Watts, Claudia Winkleman, BBC, television soundtrack, reality television, Thundercats

Sources: BBC Entertainment

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