Osman

TV presenter and author Richard Osman has said he was asked to do the celebrity edition of the BBC gameshow The Traitors.

TV star Richard Osman has revealed that he declined an invitation to star in the celebrity edition of BBC show The Traitors.

The creator of Thursday Murder Club, 54, said he would have only agreed to participate in the inaugural celebrity series of Celebrity Traitors if he was assured of playing the role of a Traitor, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Richard was on ITV’s Good Morning Britain when he was asked if he’d been invited to do the show and replied: “I was, everyone who’s been on Celebrity Traitors won’t tell you anything.”

He added: “Normally people will say if they’ve been on Celebrity Catchphrase, they go, ‘I’d watch that I think I did quite well’, Celebrity Traitors, nobody is saying a single word.

“I’ve been working with Celia Imrie, and she won’t say anything about what happened, none of them will say. I love Celebrity Traitors, but I said I would only do it if I could be a Traitor.”

He went on: “Only because I couldn’t bear if I was a Faithful – that thing where you go back to your room at night and you’re just lying there, and you know that there’s three people up in that tower filming, having a load of fun wearing cloaks and filming something.

“I’d be lying there just going, ‘Well, I mean, I could be murdered any second’, I wouldn’t have that control, and obviously they can’t say, ‘Yes, you can be a Traitor’, so yeah, I’m just going to watch.”

Richard was later warned that he could never participate in the show as everyone would suspect him of being the Traitor, to which he cheekily responded: “Am I double bluffing?”

The star-studded line-up of the hit telly show includes Thursday Murder Club’s Celia Imrie, Olympic diving legend Tom Daley, and acting heavyweight Sir Stephen Fry. They’ll be battling it out in the Scottish Highlands for a chance to bag up to £100,000 for their chosen charity.

Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, the show sees contestants trying to sniff out the Traitors among them while completing challenges to add funds to the prize pot. If a Traitor makes it to the final round, the loyal contestants lose the money and the Traitor walks away with the full prize.

Richard was promoting his latest book in the Thursday Murder Club series, The Impossible Fortune, which hit the shelves on September 25. So far, the TV presenter has penned four books in the series – The Thursday Murder Club (2020), The Man Who Died Twice (2021), The Bullet That Missed (2022), and The Last Devil To Die (2023).

Celebrity Traitors starts on BBC One on October 8.

The Thursday Murder Club author Richard Osman has addressed the backlash the Netflix film adaptation has received.

Last month, the eagerly awaited film version of The Thursday Murder Club dropped on Netflix.

Drawing from the debut novel in Richard Osman’s bestselling series, the movie showcased a stellar ensemble including Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and Helen Mirren, under Chris Columbus’s direction.

The plot centres on four pensioners residing at Coopers Chase retirement community nestled in picturesque English countryside. Weekly, they convene to examine cold cases and unsolved crimes.

Yet chaos ensues when these amateur sleuths become entangled in an actual investigation following a genuine killing.

While book enthusiasts were thrilled to witness the tale brought to the screen, numerous viewers felt let down by the adaptation, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Speaking about the criticism during a This Morning appearance, writer Richard Osman confessed he harboured doubts about certain film elements that strayed from his original work.

The 54-year-old even raised these concerns with Steven Spielberg, who served as producer via his Amblin Entertainment company.

When Ben enquired whether he now visualises his characters as the film’s cast members, Cat pointed out how differently Ron appears in the book versus Pierce Brosnan’s portrayal.

Richard responded: “He is very different! I wasn’t involved in the film, really, so I claim no credit for it.”

Ben asked Richard about his thoughts on the film adaptation of his book, which had sparked some controversy among fans.

He asked: “It’s not quite the same, significantly different parts from the book. How have you responded to that? How do you feel about that?”

Richard responded: “I’ve written my version of the book and that’s the Thursday Murder Club and it’s available in all good book shops and it’ll be there forever, that’s my version.

“That’s the version that’s come from my heart. I’m not going to be the person to sit down and do an adaptation for a film because I’ve done it already, so you have to give it to brilliant people.”

The author emphasised that the book had to be condensed into a two-hour film, which would’ve been considerably longer if everything he’d written was included.

He added: “They have to make choices that you wouldn’t necessarily make yourself. But that’s the fun of the thing.”

Ben then questioned whether Richard had the opportunity to voice any concerns to the production crew. Richard admitted: “I can reveal, I did say that a couple of times.”

When Cat asked if he had spoken to Stephen Spielberg, Richard confirmed he had, jokingly adding: “Ask me if he listened. But they know what they’re doing!”

This Morning continues weekdays on ITV from 10. The Thursday Murder Club is available to stream on Netflix.