If you’re a Celebrity Traitors fan, you’ll know by now that there’s plenty of drama that never makes it to our screens. For starters, James Acaster revealed to The Times that producers apparently “edited out” the real reason Julie Hesmondhalgh was banished. So, when we sat down with Julie for the December cover of Good Housekeeping, we had plenty of questions - and it turns out, there’s a secret alliance that’s been hidden from viewers, too.
While many of us saw Julie hanging out with Bella Ramsey and Sebastian Croft, what producers didn’t show us was that the former Coronation Street had, in fact, formed a special bond with two other Faithful: Romesh Ranganathan and Ross Kemp. “Romesh is one of the greatest human beings. We were in there right at the start, alongside Ross Kemp,” she said. “The three of us were a very unlikely little threesome. I adored Ross, too.”
Julie went on to share how quickly bonds form in the castle, which is owed largely to the strange rules in place on the show. “The extraordinary thing is that you’re all on the same footing. There’s no status at all,” she said.
“You have these accelerated friendships because there’s a lot of time off-camera when you’re travelling in cars together and aren’t allowed to discuss the game. People tell you about their lives; I found out so much about people and I was really touched that they trusted me.”
She also revealed that she knew rather a lot about the show before she went in - perhaps more than viewers at home thought. Asked why she said yes to taking part in the show, she said: ‘I couldn’t say no! I’m obsessed with it. I watch every iteration, even the one in New Zealand in which they drive their own cars and stay in a sh*t hotel. I was so chuffed to be asked.”
That’s not to say it was all plain sailing. “You get lots of psychological support, but nothing prepares you. You have to remind yourself all the time that it’s a game,” Julie added.
“You’re sleep-deprived. You get one supervised phone call a day on production’s phone. I think if your public-facing persona is quite markedly different from the person you are, you’re going to struggle. And I don’t think mine is. I’m quite guileless like that!”
Despite Julie’s exit from the show, we’ll be seeing her on our screens again very soon. The 56-year-old was asked if she’d like to guest star as a nun called Sister Alice in this year’s Call The Midwife: Sisters In Arms Christmas special and happily obliged. The three-part prequel is set during the Second World War and follows some of the much-loved characters as their young selves, alongside new characters such as Sister Alice.
“I’d never seen [Call the Midwife], so when I watched the first few episodes of the first season, I was really surprised. I think what [creator] Heidi Thomas does so brilliantly is to write about hardcore issues and entrenched misogyny under the guise of cosy Sunday-night television,” explained Julie.
“Sisters In Arms has its share of cute evacuee kids singing carols – it is the Christmas special, after all – but it’s also about unwanted pregnancies, sex work, the world before the NHS. I became very invested in it and it turned out to be one of the happiest jobs I’ve done.” Personally, we can’t wait to see it.
The December issue of Good Housekeeping is on sale now.