David Olusoga: Life After Celebrity Traitors

Q: What books has David Olusoga written?

His works include Black and British: A Forgotten History, The World's War, Black & British: A Short Essential History and The Kaiser's Holocaust, among others.

Q: What is David Olusoga working on after Celebrity Traitors?

A new BBC Two series of Empire, a fresh run of A House Through Time set in Edinburgh, a touring stage show called A Gun Through Time, and a new public talk on the history of tea.

DigitalTreasure3 days ago

There is a particular kind of Englishness in watching a professor of history try not to win a game show. For eight weeks last autumn, David Olusoga sat in a Scottish castle being gently, repeatedly suspected of murder, and the strangest part was how well it suited him. A man who has spent two decades explaining empire, migration and slavery to television audiences turned out to have exactly the temperament reality television rewards: patient, watchful, allergic to the obvious answer.

That, in miniature, is the story of David Olusoga’s last twelve months. He did not set out to become a “national treasure.” He has spent most of his career trying to be believed, not liked. But somewhere between a Highland castle, an arena stage with Barack Obama and a hometown lecture hall in South Shields, the two ambitions collided, and the collision has been more interesting than either one alone.

The Quietest Man in the Castle

Celebrity Traitors, the BBC’s celebrity spin-off of its hit format, assembled what one recap called a cast of national treasures, comedians and athletes for a murder-mystery competition filmed in the Highlands. Olusoga, 55 at the time of filming, was among the least famous names on the call sheet and, for much of the series, the least dramatic. He made the final alongside former rugby player Joe Marler and actor Nick Mohammed, playing the whole way through as a Faithful rather than a Traitor.

He was not entirely without incident. In the penultimate episode, a tense Roundtable exchange with Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway, who was banished shortly afterwards, briefly made him the centre of attention he had spent weeks avoiding. Garraway later said on air that she had not taken the exchange personally, having “lived genuine life and death,” and the moment passed without lasting rancour on either side.

Alan Carr, one of the two remaining Traitors, won the final and the show’s charity prize pot. Nick Mohammed later told The Times there had been an unbroadcast extended cut of his own shocked reaction to Carr’s reveal, edited down for television. Olusoga and Mohammed, both eliminated as Faithfuls in the final round, rushed to console Carr rather than resent him.

A Professor Who Doesn’t Do Reality TV — Except Once

Why did a serious historian agree to play a murder mystery in a castle? Olusoga has been characteristically direct about it. Asked why he signed up, he said simply, “We all were fans of the show,” according to the BBC, and pointed out that it was the only format of its kind he had ever been willing to consider, given the unusual calibre of the other contestants.

That distinction matters more than it sounds. Olusoga turns down most television work that trades on personality rather than expertise. His entire public identity has been built on the opposite instinct: slow, sourced, footnoted television, the kind that takes an empire apart brick by brick rather than a castle apart clue by clue. Choosing Traitors, and only Traitors, was less a pivot than a controlled exception.

From a Gateshead Estate to the O2 Stage

The distance he travelled to get there is the more durable story. Olusoga grew up on a council estate in Gateshead, raised largely by his mother, and has spoken about the deliberate effort it took to get out of a place with, in his own words, “expectations of failure,” a phrase he used in a recent interview with Saga magazine. He built an academic and broadcasting career instead: a professorship in Public History at the University of Manchester since 2019, a BAFTA for his documentary work, and a run of books, including Black and British: A Forgotten History, The World’s War and The Kaiser’s Holocaust, that won him the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize among other honours.

None of that career was designed for mass recognition. Then, last September, he stepped onto the stage at The O2 in London to interview Barack Obama live in front of a paying arena crowd, a booking that put a working historian in a role usually reserved for star broadcasters and comedians.

The Man Presidents and Producers Call First

That O2 appearance has quietly become his reference point. When organisers announced this week that Obama would return to the UK for three further live interview dates in Belfast, Glasgow and Manchester this October, the announcement cited Olusoga’s earlier appearance as the template for the format, even while naming no moderator yet for the new shows.

An arena stage set for a live public interview, evoking Olusoga's Obama interview at The O2.

It is a small, telling kind of authority: not fame exactly, but trust. The sort that gets a name pencilled in as a shorthand for quality before a single ticket goes on sale. Whether Olusoga himself returns as moderator for any of the new dates has not been confirmed by organisers.

Universities have started treating him the same way. When the University of Sunderland announced he would deliver its 2026 South Shields Lecture, following speakers including Hillary Clinton and Tony Blair, David Miliband said the invitation reflected how Olusoga “brings his distinctive British-Nigerian identity to bear on the big questions of our time.” The line was less a compliment than a job description.

Serious Again, On His Own Terms

Reality television did not replace the day job. If anything, it sat alongside a genuinely heavy 2026 workload. A new series of Empire has returned to BBC Two, alongside a fresh run of A House Through Time relocated to Edinburgh. He has also taken a live theatre show, A Gun Through Time, on tour across Britain, walking audiences through the history of four firearms, and added a new talk on the history of tea to his existing lecture circuit.

Seen together, the pattern is less “historian goes viral” than something closer to compounding interest. Every appearance that widened his audience seems to have been reinvested straight back into the scholarly and civic work that built his reputation in the first place, rather than replacing it.

Going Home to Say Something Serious

A North East England townscape, evoking David Olusoga's return home for the South Shields Lecture

The South Shields Lecture, delivered at Harton Academy in July, closed the loop most directly. Olusoga chose to use one of the most prestigious platforms available to him, in the region where he grew up, to talk about the North East’s global connections rather than his year of television. It was a homecoming built entirely on the authority the castle, the arena and the lecture circuit had each fed into the others.

Confirmed vs. Assumed

Olusoga’s run to the Celebrity Traitors final as a Faithful, his elimination just short of the win, and Alan Carr’s victory are all confirmed by multiple broadcast and press accounts. His live interview with Barack Obama at The O2 in September, his professorship at the University of Manchester, and his delivery of the 2026 South Shields Lecture are similarly well documented. What is not yet confirmed is whether Olusoga will return as the on-stage moderator for Obama’s newly announced Belfast, Glasgow and Manchester dates this October — organisers have said only that guest moderators for those legs are still to be named.

FAQ

Did David Olusoga win Celebrity Traitors?

No. He reached the final as a Faithful but was eliminated in the closing rounds. Alan Carr, playing as a Traitor, won the series and its charity prize.

Is David Olusoga interviewing Barack Obama again on his new UK tour?

Unconfirmed. Organisers of Obama’s October dates in Belfast, Glasgow and Manchester have said guest moderators will be announced separately, without naming Olusoga.

What is David Olusoga’s academic title?

He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester, a role he has held since 2019, alongside his broadcasting and writing career.

What books has David Olusoga written?

His works include Black and British: A Forgotten History, The World’s War, Black & British: A Short Essential History and The Kaiser’s Holocaust, among others.

Does David Olusoga talk about his family publicly?

Rarely. He lives in Bristol and has spoken only in general terms about his wife and daughter, keeping most family details deliberately out of public view.

What is David Olusoga working on after Celebrity Traitors?

A new BBC Two series of Empire, a fresh run of A House Through Time set in Edinburgh, a touring stage show called A Gun Through Time, and a new public talk on the history of tea.