Brand tie-ins at the Proms can be clumsy, but The Traitors Prom proved how a crossover event can broaden audiences without alienating core fans. Packed with modest musical nods, inclusive audience engagement, and Claudia Winkleman’s dry delivery, this tightly scripted live event still managed to land on radio — and, unexpectedly, win over a sceptic.
The Traitors Prom from the 2025 BBC Proms season is on BBC One on New Years Day at 2.00pm
Review
In The Traitors Prom classical music is repackaged, creating light touch introductions to some much-loved classics. Schubert’s Ave Maria segues to Elgar’s Enigma Variations weaved through the Traitors incidental music. Deft.
The series anthem ‘Nothing is at it Seems’ works well in the running order too, even if the top notes could do with being a little tighter with the intonation.
Later, Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre (with some modest edits to satisfy the running order) keeps the classical references, in what is increasingly feeling like a fully branded edition of Friday Night is Music Night. And given that I first heard Danse Macabre as a kid of Friday Night is Music Night, who am I to complain about this format?
An epic orchestral arrangement of Britney Spears’ Toxic triggers memories of the Ibiza Prom years back, and associations with many similar crossover events UK orchestras subsequently benefitted from staging after that Prom.
There’s a whiff of modern-day Mantovani in the unapologetically camp orchestral and choral arrangement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata that isn’t entirely dissatisfying.
The entire offer doesn’t feel quite so arch and painfully weak as the Doctor Who Proms were, possibly because the originating TV content is stronger. Composer Sam Watt’s native score for The Traitors though highly theatrical, doesn’t have the overblown quality that Murray Gold’s often unwelcome sugary incidental scores do. The audience sounds appreciative too. A done deal then? Maybe. In creating an event at the Proms for the dedicated Traitors audience the BBC is widening the invitation for an audience who might not otherwise consider the season. That’s powerful.
Though it’s a tightly controlled, highly scripted live event, designed solely with TV in mind, it still works on radio. The buzz and enthusiasm of the audience bleed through, raising a smile. Claudia Winkelman’s characteristic dry delivery makes the judicious misdirection welcome decorations in a script that is warm and mercifully free of hyperbole. Taking inspiration from the series, Winkelman’s invitation to the audience to turn to one another and ‘pledge allegiance’ is a neat trick in building audience engagement, highly predictable but plausible. Sometimes the adjectives get a little tiresome, though a TV edit will probably lessen the frequency and reduce the irritation.
These brand tie-ins will continue to play a valuable role for the BBC Proms and the wider BBC in the future, it strikes me. If we’re seeing more classical referenced in TV programmes and a more orchestral sound used in incidental music, then it makes sense to capitalise on any assets you have at your disposal in order to meet your strategic goals. If a mixed programme satisfies that core dedicated audience for the programme, and you’re getting a TV broadcast out of it that reinforces both Proms and Traitors then you’re also getting value for money. Not only that, two shows only made possible because the core BBC Proms offering is happening in Gateshead at the same time, means more (lucrative) ticket sales.
Drawing contestant Linda Rands (who was herself a bit of a social media ‘sensation’ during and after the third Traitors series) into the interval feature was a sound tactical move. Additionally, given the new audience for the broadcast, it was surely one of the first and maybe even only time when an in-interval trail for Radio 3 actually made sense. Composer Sam Watt’s cross-referencing other composers also made sense in this regard even if the conversation, in which presenter Katie Derham was doing a lot of the heavy lifting, didn’t flow especially naturally. Excerpts from a handful of composers – Berlioz, Purcell, and Mozart (unsurprisingly Mozart made it to the playlist rather than Britten’s Billy Budd) – all inspired by treachery and villainy, provided a framework for introducing further discovery to newcomers.
Technically, I didn’t want to like to it but I loved every minute of it. If you’ve convinced the most skeptical member of the audience then someone’s done their job well.
Gallery
📷 Mark Allan / BBC
The Traitors Prom from the 2025 BBC Proms season is on BBC One on New Years Day at 2.00pm
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