Albeit in the form of a fresh hell for its participants.

There was something slightly sadistic about how gripped millions of us were last year, watching 22 people descend into the very depths of paranoid despair as they systematically picked off one another. But you just couldn't deny how fascinating it was to see, writ-large, the processes (in-group and out-group, herd mentality) we'd only really read about in our A-Level psychology textbooks.

As well as analysing the action, the podcast will have exclusive interviews with the banished and murdered players, including bonus footage that shows the exact moment when they learn who the Traitors are.

The Traitors: Uncloaked will air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer immediately after each episode of The Traitors, which launches in early 2024. An extended version with additional guests, further theories and analysis will be available on BBC Sounds.

The announcement comes in advance of the highly-anticipated second series, which is due to return to BBC One later in 2023.

Hosted by an inscrutable Claudia Winkleman, The Traitors has won many fans for its gripping game of deception, based on the party game Mafia.

21 million audiences tuned in to watch the likes of Wilf Webster and Amanda Lovett bluff and backstab their way through the voting rounds.

"The BBC," says Head of Entertainment Kalpna Patel-Knight, "will always remain faithful to The Traitors.

The clip aired just before Strictly Come Dancing, and saw its RTS Award-winning host Claudia Winkleman donning the iconic cloak before shushing the camera. Words revealed that the series was "coming soon" to BBC One.

Several fans clocked another hint during the live Strictly broadcast. A cloaked figure was seen looming behind Winkleman as she spoke to the dancing couples awaiting their scores.

It all seems so obvious now. Put 22 ordinary people in a spooky Scottish castle, divide them into Traitors – whose job it is to murder the others – and Faithfuls, whose job it is to work out who the Traitors are and banish them. It’s Wink Murder on steroids. Put the effervescent Claudia Winkleman at the helm, and let the viewers come.

While everyone continues to remark on the so-called golden age of drama on TV, a growing number of constructed factual shows have been quietly grabbing huge audiences and winning awards.

Fresh off the block, The Traitors – effectively a game of “wink murder” writ large in a spooky Scottish castle, with Claudia Winkleman presiding – won at the RTS Programme Awards and the British Press Guild Awards, as well as grabbing two Baftas.

It is rare for the BBC not to be in the crosshairs of a crisis and 2023 has been no exception. Behind the headlines, though, the opening months of the year have been a time of ­triumph for its creative chief, Charlotte Moore. The BBC has dominated the TV awards season. At the RTS Programme Awards, the corporation pocketed 17 out of a total of 30 awards.

Created by Geronimo, the award-winning team behind The Big Job Switch and Doctor Davy, the adventure reality competition show originated in Belgium in February 2023. It sends ten contestants on 'the road trip of a lifetime', but they are not informed of their location.

Once they are on the innovative Destination X bus, reality is tweaked to mislead them and those watching. They are given certain clues as to whether they can trust what they see, so they need to stay sharp to figure out where they are.