Stephen Lambert has said he is “very honoured” to be made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s Birthday Honours for his services to television.
He is the founder and chief executive of Studio Lambert, the production company behind The Traitors, Gogglebox, Race Across The World and Squid Game: The Challenge.
Lambert, 66, told the PA news agency: “It’s a huge exciting surprise to be given an OBE, I feel, personally, very honoured.
“I’ve been telling stories all my life, whether sometimes in the past, with documentaries, quite hard-hitting, more recently, more entertaining stories, and to have this kind of honour from the country in which you grew up feels very special.
“I think also professionally, it’s a great testament to the people I work with, particularly at Studio Lambert. Television is a very collaborative medium and I think that this is to be seen as something that reflects the brilliant work that everybody I work with does.”
Lambert began his career at the BBC in the early 1980s, producing documentaries from around the world, including many filmed in conflict zones.
In 1994 he became the founding editor of the BBC Two documentary strand Modern Times, before joining RDF Media in 1998 as its first director of programmes, where he was responsible for factual entertainment series such as Faking It, Wife Swap and The Secret Millionaire.
Lambert founded Studio Lambert in 2008 with backing from All3Media. Undercover Boss became the company’s first success, running for eleven seasons on CBS and earning multiple Primetime Emmy Awards.
In 2013 Studio Lambert launched Gogglebox for Channel 4, now one of the network’s most beloved and enduring series and, more recently, The Traitors and Race Across The World, which have become two of BBC One’s highest-rated shows, while Squid Game: The Challenge found global success on Netflix.
Lambert told PA: “The Traitors is a clever format, brilliantly executed by my colleagues in Studio Lambert, I mean every aspect of it is so carefully done, the picking of the cast, the teams that are working on it.
“And I think it grips people, because it’s just fascinating, trying to work out why people are not able to spot the traitors, and the certainty with which people make theories about why somebody is a traitor, so that it gives you an insight into the ways in which people come to conclusions.
“It makes you quite worried about the jury system, for instance, because you think, oh dear, people are so certain, and they base their certainty on such little evidence, and then they’re discovered quite often to be wrong.
“You realise that it’s both illuminating but it’s also surprisingly entertaining.”
The company has also produced acclaimed scripted dramas, including Three Girls, The Nest, and the recent BBC Three comedy-drama Boarders.
Lambert’s productions have earned a dozen Bafta awards and in 2024 the US version of The Traitors won the Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding reality competition series.
Last year Lambert was also recognised with the Royal Television Society’s outstanding achievement award.
