"A very unlikely little threesome": Celebrity Traitors' Julie Hesmondhalgh on who she was closest to

Julie Hesmondhalgh's time on The Celebrity Traitors was short, but in the short time before she was banished from the castle, she struck up some strong friendships with fellow famous faces.

In the latest issue of Good Housekeeping UK, in which she serves as the cover star, the former Coronation Street star admitted that the people she grew closest to weren't the ones she was expecting.

"Romesh [Ranganathan] is one of the greatest human beings," she said. "We were in there right at the start, alongside Ross Kemp. The three of us were a very unlikely little threesome. I adored Ross, too."

Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 – including Disney+, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV

Speaking about how the castle allows unlikely friendships to form, Julie said: "The extraordinary thing is that you're all on the same footing.

"There's no status at all. 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."

It's not the first time that Julie has talked about how surprised she was to get along so well with Ross.

Related: Celebrity Traitors' Richard E Grant shuts down "categorically false" rumour about his time on show

"Ross [Kemp] was also the big, unexpected love for me in this series. He's just wonderful", she said previously.

"I've never seen anyone as terrified of being pretend murdered in my life, who at the same time talks constantly about all the things he's seen and done in his life, and they are horrific. Romesh [Ranganathan] and Ross were my first friends in there."

She also admitted that she felt the same age as young Faithfuls Bella Ramsey and Sebastian Croft in her head, but the show made her realise that she was "very much not".

Celebrity Traitors airs Thursday and Friday at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping's December issue, on sale from today (22 October).

Visit our Streaming Guide now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.

The new edition of Legends, a 100-page celebration of Dolly Parton's life, is here. Buy Dolly in newsagents or online.

Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.