Comedian Joe Wilkinson has suggested that his Waitrose Christmas advert co-star, Keira Knightley, would be an ideal candidate for the next series of The Celebrity Traitors.
The 50-year-old revealed to the PA news agency that the Pride And Prejudice star expressed interest in his time on the BBC reality gameshow while they filmed their festive campaign, "The Perfect Gift."
The Waitrose advert sees Wilkinson’s character, Phil, develop a romantic interest in the actress after a chance meeting within the supermarket aisles.
Wilkinson himself was a participant in the first series of The Celebrity Traitors, where he was "murdered" in its early stages by traitors Jonathan Ross, Cat Burns, and comedian Alan Carr, who ultimately emerged as the show’s winner.
The comedian said: “I probably shouldn’t say this, but my prediction for the next series of Traitors is, I reckon, because I know she loves Traitors, and I reckon someone, not saying it’d be Keira, but I reckon they’ll have in the next series a proper, not that they weren’t big names in it, but I’m talking big superstar.
“Either Keira Knightley or a Sly Stallone, or someone like that, that’s my prediction, and I don’t know anything, so I haven’t got any inside scoop.
“My guess is because Keira was asking me all about The Traitors when we were filming stuff, because it’s obviously swept the nation, and it’s such good fun.
“I would say to any Hollywood superstar reading this: you should do it, it’s so much fun, but I reckon they’ll have someone insane, profile wise.”
The 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown star went on to say Knightley, 40, had shown “star quality stuff” while working with him on the mini-rom com, which is set to the song She’s A Star by British band James.
He added: “She’s really, really down to earth and normal, lovely, so she’s not starry, she just has sort of star quality.
“You always learn from people like her, there’s a funny thing about sort of stillness and believability and stuff, it’s just like trying to be as real as possible.
“But I’ve had loads of messages where people have gone: ‘God, she’s good, she does actually look like she fancies you’, that is incredible acting.”
He also praised the advert’s director Molly Manners, who directed Netflix’s One Day, and the team who made it, saying “real care went into it”.
Wilkinson said: “I got sent the script, and I spoke to the director, Molly, who’s brilliant, and it really made me laugh.
“She just had this idea, and the idea really made me laugh, that Keira Knightley immediately falls in love with me, at first sight, and that made me laugh.”
Next up for the Bromley-born comedian is Joe And David’s Magical Sitcom Tour, a U&Gold show which sees him joined by his friend David Earl to explore the locations and meet the cast and crew behind their favourite British sitcoms.
He said the show came about after Earl went to visit the street where Ever Decreasing Circles was filmed, and he later visited the allotment where Only Fools And Horses’ Peckham Spring episode was filmed, before realising “there might be a sort of TV show in it”.
