![\"Claudia](\"https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Claudia-Winkleman-and-Traitors.png\")
Hit television show The Traitors<\/em> has raised skill levels among BBC Scotland\u2019s production staff that could lure other programmes north of the border, its director told a committee of MPs.<\/p>\n Hayley Valentine said 70 BBC Scotland staff worked on series four, up from 60 who contributed to the previous series, and several were taking on more senior roles.<\/p>\n \u201cSome started as researchers and have been brought through the system,\u201d she told the Scottish Affairs Committee sitting in Glasgow.<\/p>\n Ms Valentine confirmed that the series had helped develop skills among Scottish production staff and would help with future commissions.<\/p>\n \u201cScotland did not make this genre for a long time,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not short of talent but we did not have a ready-made skills-set and we have developed it.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cNow, when another programme comes along like this, people will say Scotland can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n There had been criticism of the low level of local input into the making of The Traitors<\/em> which is filmed at Ardross Castle in the Highlands and is classed as a Scottish production.<\/p>\n The\u00a0BBC\u00a0is required to spend at least 8% of its expenditure making shows in Scotland. This requirement, according to media regulator Ofcom, is in place to \u201csupport and strengthen the television production sector and creative economies of the UK\u2019s nations and regions\u201d outside of London.<\/p>\n But the show came under fire after it was claimed that only around 6% of workers on the previous production were actually based in Scotland.<\/p>\n At the time, factual TV producer and director Peter Strachan asked: \u201cIs it acceptable that the BBC should be using money that\u2019s earmarked to promote growth and jobs in Scotland and spending it on a series that is basically not doing that, a Scottish commission on which hardly anyone based in Scotland is working?\u201d<\/p>\n Stephen Lambert, chief executive of Studio Lambert which makes the show, responded by saying the number of Scots would increase. <\/p>\n \u201cA very different set of specialised skills and experience are required to make reality shows on the scale of\u00a0The Traitors<\/em>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The show was also a \u201chuge driver\u201d the economy, especially tourism, in the Highlands which had seen a \u00a320 million benefit, while the holiday booking site Expedia had seen a 190% surge in searches for Highlands holidays.<\/p>\n Ms Valentine was also quizzed on the decision to terminate River City, the soap series set on Clydeside.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is not making soaps, it is making high impact dramas,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n BBC Scotland news was now able to display the Verify badge as part of a campaign against disinformation.<\/p>\n \t <\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Hayley-Valentine-BBC-Scotland-at-SAC.png\")