Subscribe
Studio

The Traitors composer Sam Watts on scoring the “dark and camp” main theme

If you were one of the 5.4 million people that tuned in to watch episode one of BBC’s wildly popular show, The Traitors UK, then you'll be all too familiar with the show’s dynamic, dramatic – and slightly camp – main theme. Keeping viewers on the edge of their seats and second-guessing everything each week – who’s next to be murdered? Will there be traitor-on-traitor crime? What diabolical spelling of someone’s name will we see at the banishment? How chunky will Claudia Winkleman’s knitwear be? – the show has gone from strength to strength in a few short years and has seen the nation tuning in in their millions.

Despite the show being shrouded in mystery, The Traitors’ composer Sam Watts agreed to lower his cloak and join Headliner at the turret to reveal all about how he created the show’s iconic main theme and share how his music has been integral to shaping the sound of the programme that has brought audiences everything from, “but Ross is…”, to #jazathachristie, Paul’s pantomime bow, Linda’s acting, agonising final reveals, and everything in between.

(At the time of interview, the most recent episode to air is S3E9)

Like the majority of the UK, Headliner is currently obsessed with The Traitors series 3. How are you liking this season so far?

I think it's great. The nicest thing about having been a part of this show is that I'm actually a really huge fan. It's such compelling television, and this series is really interesting because, as a few former cast members have pointed out, the players are no longer playing just the game, they're playing the production company as well, because in the first series nobody had seen it, and nobody knew what it was. They were all going in with no information at all. 

Now that we're on series three, all the players are thinking, ‘This happened last season, so they're gonna do something like this again’. It adds an extra element to the gameplay, because the production are geniuses and come up with these very clever things to make these twists happen. They are no longer second guessing everything, they’re triple guessing everything.

It's that water cooler television that everyone's talking about.

Like Dianne’s fatal fizzy Rosé from season 2 making them suspect Minah this year because she innocently asked someone to watch her drink?

Yes! The really interesting thing about this series is all the tiny things that are being blown completely out of proportion. If somebody does say one little word, someone will pick up on it, and that person is then definitely a traitor – even though they're not – which is fascinating, because everyone is so paranoid.

If you were on the show, would you prefer to be a faithful or a traitor?

I'm a really emotional person. I wear my heart on my sleeve. My husband always laughs at me and says that I cry at toilet paper adverts. I'm that emotional. I would be awful as a traitor because I would be racked with guilt with ending these people's chances of winning the money. Especially when everyone has a bit of a story and are doing it for really valid reasons. I would feel super guilty, and I think I would walk around the castle looking really guilty. 

I was thinking, would I pull a Leanne and be like, ‘I'm a nail technician?’ – because I couldn't go on the show and say, ‘I wrote the theme and some of the music for this show,’ because everyone would say, ‘Get him out; he's going to have a secret. He knows the producers. He'd know how this all works’. I'd have to go on with a false name and pretend to be a primary school teacher or something.

I would be awful as a traitor because I would be racked with guilt.

Who are your favourite characters this year?

I try not to have favourites, but I have enjoyed Linda. Linda was fantastic. I love Lisa and the bit with Lisa and Alex where she said, ‘I love you; whatever happens, I want you to know’. I know a lot of people say, ‘You've been in there for three days. How can you possibly like these people this much?’ I don't think people understand how much filming they're doing, how much time they're spending together, and what kind of pressure cookers these things are. 

They do form very strong bonds very quickly. It's really lovely seeing that level of genuine emotion on television. I loved their relationship. I think Minah is a queen. [When she murdered Fozia in person] – I loved it! Just completely blank-faced, like, ‘This is my job now’.

Headliner understands why you enjoyed watching Linda. Her delivery of absurd, camp lines like, ‘You don’t have to be a sailor to know how to tie a rope. Sorry.’ – will go down in Traitors history. What’s not to love?

I know! Hats off to the casting team, because honestly, every time I think they can't top the cast, they do such a great job of finding a really nice mix of people. There hasn't been anyone on this series that I've actively wanted to dislike. 

I can't bring myself to dislike anyone, which makes it even more compelling because you know that these people are genuine, nice people put into this situation where they have to lie and cheat and murder. It's very clever casting.

the heavy focus is on the treachery. I like doing the dark stuff, and I like doing the camp stuff.

You composed the main Traitors theme, which is such an integral part of the show and sets the dramatic tone perfectly. How did you come up with how this should sound?

I got a message from a friend of mine called Abi Lambrinos, who is one of the producers on The Traitors. We’ve always said, ‘One day, we'll get to work on a show together’. She sent me a message saying, ‘I've got this show. We're wondering if you'd be interested’. 

I had a chat with Studio Lambert about doing it, and they asked me to put together a reel of music that I'd written that I thought would fit. They gave me a few pointers on the kinds of music that they liked. I thought, ‘I've got some stuff that's a bit like that, but I really want to have a go at writing something specifically’.

One Saturday morning, I came up with the basic idea for what I thought the theme would sound like, and I sent it to them, and it's very different to how it is now. It had a much slower beginning and a slower tempo, but luckily, they liked it, and they asked me to do some music for the show, and the theme was one of them.

People always ask me, ‘How do you come up with these things?’ The real honest answer is, I haven't got a clue [laughs]. It's such an ethereal thing, but I had in mind that murder mystery, dramatic, slightly camp kind of idea. I knew I wanted a really big, singable theme. I love writing singable themes and hooks. I knew I wanted – this is going to sound so egocentric! 

It's not, because I could never write like this – but almost like John Williams’ Close Encounters. That is so iconic and every time you hear it, you know. I wanted something that people would recognise as soon as they turned the telly on, so I came up with the four note hook, which initially was just going to be a part of the accompaniment to the main theme, but I got into the groove with it. 

It's a bit weird, because it's a very close harmony – it's D, E, F, and then C sharp, so it's all very close together and feels a bit off kilter, but that became the theme. The production team were like, ‘We love the hook!’ – so I made more of it. I remember always loving those shows when you would hear the first few notes of the music and you'd run back into the room, so, I wanted to try and create something a bit like that.

I wanted something that people would recognise as soon as they turned the telly on, so I came up with the four note hook.

It sounds like a large orchestra was used. Where was the theme recorded and what were the key instruments?

Actually, it's all fake! It’s almost all virtual. I rely very heavily on my brother, Dan. He does all of my mixing. He's phenomenal. He's a fantastic guitarist, so the guitar that you hear is my brother. I did all of the orchestral stuff and some synth stuff, and then I sent it over to him, and was like, ‘Throw even more on it to make it even bigger’. 

He wrote some additional synth parts for it using a wall of ‘70s and ‘80s synths that he's collected and he put some actual analogue synths on there. Then he recorded some ridiculous guitar, which really tips the campness of the theme when that screaming guitar comes in at the end.

He sent it back to me, and I loved it instantly. But everything else, other than the analogue stuff that Dan recorded, is all done in the box – all artificially. I programmed all of it and spent a long time trying to make it sound as realistic as possible. 

The budget to record it, if I orchestrated it out properly and went into a studio, we'd probably need 130-150 players. It's just so big that the session that Dan had to mix was a nightmare, because there was just so much going on in it!

I had in mind that murder mystery, dramatic, slightly camp kind of idea.

You also composed numerous tracks for series 1 and 2, and they are still using your tracks for series 3. However, you do not score to picture, and have no idea how your music will be used. How do you create these cues that set the tone of the show, without knowing what they will be used for?

It is a challenge! There were lots of conversations with the production, and over season one I got to see a few clips so that I could see what it was looking like, so that I sort of knew the tone. I went back and forth with executive producers Sarah Fay (UK version) and Sam Rees-Jones (US version) at Studio Lambert, tweaking things and getting things right. 

It was a lot of brain work, actually, because I had certain format points that they wanted me to write for, and then everything else was moods and things that they could use here: a little bit of cheeky stuff there, something really dramatic for that, something uplifting there. It's moods and emotions more than anything else. They play the piano version of the theme when a contestant is murdered. They were like, ‘We want something a bit sad for the murders’.

I did an uplifting version of the theme that was used in series one when they were flying in the helicopters and stuff like that. There were lots of spreadsheets involved, which is not normally what you do when you're scoring to picture with keys, tempos, time signatures and chord sequences and all of those sorts of things. I designed it so that when we delivered the stems, they can put bits together and chop it up and make new pieces of music out of two separate pieces of music that I wrote. 

It's quite versatile for them, and they can use certain aspects of a track or something that creates a slightly different mood. I call it jigsaw puzzle music when you're writing like that, because you're thinking about what pieces fit with what pieces. There was a lot of lateral thinking about how the music was going to fit together. It is kind of flying without knowing where you're going, in a way – very unusual.

It is kind of flying without knowing where you're going, in a way – very unusual.

Were there distinct musical themes for the Traitors and the Faithful?

I guess the Traitors do have their own music. I felt like most of the music I was writing was sort of for the traitors, because the heavy focus is on the treachery of this show. I like doing the dark stuff, and I like doing the camp stuff as well.

What are some of your favourite uses of your music over iconic scenes from the show so far?

I did really like the end of series one; the way the music was used there was really cool. It was very dramatic and fun to watch. I've written a couple of more whimsical, fun pieces, and fun versions of the theme that have been used here and there for lovely people like Maddy in series one, and a little bit on Linda in series three. 

It was quite fun to help with highlighting the characters. I laughed at the reverse theme in S3E8 when they played the theme backwards in the dolls challenge on that episode. That was a lot of fun.

It’s almost all virtual. If I orchestrated it out properly and went into a studio, we'd probably need 130-150 players.

Having now watched two seasons and most of series three, if you could, is there anything you would approach differently if you scored the show or certain scenes again?

There are bits that I would love to have scored to picture, but the way the production works, that's not really possible. I don't think I would have done anything differently. I was very pleased that everyone at the BBC was happy with the music that I'd written. 

I got some lovely messages about how well it set the tone for the show, which is always really nice, because you're you're never fully certain. I second guess everything. The fact that the theme itself became part of the Zeitgeist was a really bizarre thing.

I call it jigsaw puzzle music, because you're thinking about what pieces fit with what pieces.

As you did everything in the box, were there specific music production tools or software you relied on heavily while composing for The Traitors

I have a dedicated home studio space in the house that is not as fancy as some people might think. I write using Steinberg’s Cubase. I think Cubase is great. I love it and I find it very easy to use, and I'm not very tech-savvy. At the start of every project when I'm coming up with how it's going to sound, I'll make a specific template for that project, so I have all the instruments I think I'm going to use in place. 

Then I can use that template as the starting point for every cue, and that's really helpful. Cubase works really well for my brain! It's quite simple to set up: it's easy to make a sound, and that's the thing that I need. 

I need to be able to open a program and press A, middle C and hear it, so that's very cool. The integration now with Dorico as well is great. And the more that they do that, it's going to make things much, much quicker getting things out of your DAW and into a score when you're with live players. 

It's very, very clever. I am learning Dorico at the moment. It's really cool and it’s very intuitive, plus it looks very nice. That integration with Cubase and not having to spend hours and hours cleaning MIDI up to then export and import into another program, to then tidy up…that’s a laborious task. Everything that they do to make it that little bit easier is brilliant.

the players are no longer playing just the game, they're playing the production company as well.

Who do you want to win series three?

Minah has been brilliant. It would be great if she won. It is tough because you kind of root for the faithful, in a way, because the good guys should win. But there is something delicious about the wool being pulled over everyone's eyes. 

I actually do kind of want the traitors to win this one, just because it makes good telly. I kind of want Charlotte to throw Minah under the bus and be the last one standing and take all the money, because I think she's lied so very well through the whole thing with her fake Welsh accent! But that's the joy of it.

You can't really see where it's going, and I have no idea who's going to win. That's why it makes such good telly, because you don't always know who you should be rooting for, because it feels a bit wrong rooting for the traitors. But also, there's something nice about it. It's going to be interesting watching their new twist play out when they leave on the last day and they don't reveal whether they're a faithful or a traitor when they're banished. 

With this particular cast and the way that they've been spiraling and doing 15 back flips around one idea, I think that could be really explosive. It could be down to the point where everyone is just voting for everyone else because they're paranoid that there's going to be a traitor left.

The fact that the theme itself became part of the Zeitgeist was a really bizarre thing.

People have viewing parties for the finales, and each year you’ll see footage of people in pubs watching the live final. What do you make of the show’s popularity?

I think it's brilliant. I cannot believe how much the show has taken off. I knew it was good when they showed me the original Dutch version. I was expecting to just watch little bits of it, but I was hooked instantly and I watched all of it. Then they announced that Claudia Winkleman was going to be doing it, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, she's my favourite. That's going to be brilliant’. 

It's kind of weird and really awesome that it's captured something and it’s a testament to Studio Lambert, and especially with regards to the success of the British one and the US one, Claudia and Alan Cumming, (who hosts the US one), are just so brilliant at it. I can't imagine anyone else doing it now. They really make it camp, with the swooshing out of the room. 

The first series was sort of a slow burn, and then it became this thing that you cannot predict at all, and I just love that. People enjoy it so much. It's that water cooler television that everyone's talking about. Everyone's got their predictions. It's a lot of fun to be involved with.

The final episode of The Traitors UK will air on BBC1 on Friday January 24 at 8:30pm - half an hour earlier than normal - and will air for 70 minutes as the remaining faithfuls and traitors battle it out to win up to £120,000.


Main image credit: BBC / Studio Lambert, Cody Burridge; All others: BBC / Studio Lambert, Euan Cherry