Nick Mohammed on War, Celebrity Traitors and His Nice-Guy Reputation

At the top of our Zoom call, Nick Mohammed swivels his camera around to show off a shelf of thick books. “That’s all magic books,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter. It’s a cold day in London — the weather’s taken a sharp drop in recent weeks — and the actor-comedian-presenter sits in a hoodie and cap. Not a bunny in sight.

In all seriousness, the now-46-year-old grew up studying — and remains very passionate about — the art of magic. He received a Paul Daniels magic set as a kid and joined the local magic club in his hometown of Leeds. From the age of 16, Mohammed took his illusory talents (and cards, his speciality) on the road, where he’d wow crowds at weddings, hotels and parties. “When you see good magic happen,” he says about what drew him to the craft, “it takes you back to a time when anything could be possible. I find it very aspirational and hopeful and optimistic.”

Mohammed’s sleight-of-hand know-how funded his way through college. He even performed at the wedding of a university friend, fellow actor Simon Bird (of Inbetweeners fame) in 2012. But things started to become weird — his words — when Mohammed’s comedy career took flight, and he was yet to hang up his cape and wand. “I would show up at events as a close-up magician and people would be like, ‘Oh hang on, aren’t you the guy in that sitcom?’” he laughs. Mohammed’s fame had started to run away from him.

But the illusion certainly hadn’t shattered. This interest in magic had, of course, been the basis for Mr. Swallow, the megalomaniac magician whose outlandish personality and admittedly “silly” tricks soon made Mohammed a poster boy for U.K. character comedy. He began developing the role while studying for a PhD in seismology, cheered on by his peers at the creme de la creme of university performing arts troupes, the Cambridge Footlights. In his corner were fellow comedian-writers like Jonny Sweet, Sarah Solemani and Joe Thomas, to name a few. “I’d found these people who I adored and we all then hung out together. I loved that time,” says Mohammed. “I felt so lucky to be a part of that group and even to this day, we’re all very supportive of each other.”

After annual shows at the Edinburgh Fringe — the obligatory stop (and often launchpad) for any hopeful comedian — Mohammed took the leap. Mr. Swallow was officially a full-hour set. “You could definitely see people in the audience going, ‘Is this for an hour?’” he giggles about those first few shows. “And from then onwards, I never really looked back. Exclusively, now, if I ever do anything live, it’s Mr. Swallow.”

Yet, over the years, Mr. Swallow has taken a backseat to the undeniable star power of the man behind him. Mohammed has gradually become one of the most recognizable faces in British film and television, starting with roles in 2016’s Bridget Jones’s Baby and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, all the way up to his co-leading 2025’s Deep Cover with Bryce Dallas Howard and Orlando Bloom. It’s hard to find a U.K. TV hit that hasn’t partly leant on Mohammed’s skillset, showcased in Fresh Meat, Stath Lets Flats, 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (as Mr. Swallow), Inside No. 9, Renegade Nell, Taskmaster, Alma’s Not Normal, Slow Horses and Last One Laughing U.K.

The entire country effectively shouted, “Oh, fuck!” along with Mohammed when Alan Carr declared himself a traitor in the final of last year’s yet-to-be-topped Celebrity Traitors, but we’ll come to that — and his role in Sky‘s stylish new legal thriller War — in due course. Because the project that shot Mohammed to global stardom (and secured him two Emmy nominations) is a show he still can’t quite believe he initially turned down.

“I was busy on Intelligence,” Mohammed explains, “which I’d written and was filming at the time. David Schwimmer was in that show and he plays an NSA agent who comes over and works with GCHQ, and I was like, ‘I’m already involved in a show that has this eccentric American coming over and working in a British institution, and I’m playing this subordinate role that looks up to him. And [Intelligence is a series] I’m working on myself. Do I want to act in someone else’s show?’”

It was only when Ted Lasso‘s co-creator and showrunner made a call that Mohammed realized Nate Shelley was his to claim. “Bill Lawrence had to say, ‘You really just need to do it. Stop asking questions about it. Just do it. I promise you,’” says Mohammed, smiling as he relives the conversation. He also admits to feeling like Ted Lasso was “bucking the trend” a little. “Around the time, there were quite a lot of snarky and cynical comedies, and this felt positive and optimistic,” Mohammed says. “That’s not a dig at snarky, cynical comedies — I love those as well — but this definitely felt [like], ‘Oh, this is something different here.’”

Thus, the award-winning mega-hit, following a U.S. football coach who brings A.F.C. Richmond to its knees with a distinct air of pep the Brits love to hate, made Mohammed more famous than ever — and by association, Mr. Swallow. “It wasn’t that long ago, maybe off the back of season two of Ted Lasso,” Mohammed remembers, “I took [Mr. Swallow] to New York and it sold out the town hall. It’s like 1200 seats. None of them had seen Mr. Swallow — they were all there because they were Ted Lasso fans. And the first thing I say on stage is, ‘This is not Ted Lasso. You really have to strap in because it’s going to be very different.’” Within 10 to 15 minutes, he says, the audience was totally along for the ride.

Ted Lasso has just aired its fourth installment, but those early seasons in 2021 and 2022 might just have birthed the Apple TV we know and love today. It was one of the streamer’s first real breakthrough projects and gave a predominantly British cast their first taste of Emmy success. Case in point: Nick Mohammed. “It feels like such a weird thing to say, but the first time I went to America was because I’d been nominated for an Emmy,” he tells THR.

It was as Hollywood as Hollywood gets: The kid from Leeds was suddenly competing with the likes of Schitt’s Creek, Abbott Elementary and Hacks. Mohammed met Catherine O’Hara and William H. Macy. It was, he concedes, an experience that he was thankful to have later on in this line of work. “It was very much a slow burn start to my career, [which] meant when things like Ted Lasso broke out, I felt I was in a position to deal with it,” reflects Mohammed. “In the live environment, [at] Edinburgh, it teaches you about failure year-on-year. The industry really prepares you very well for failure. But actually, no one ever teaches you about how to deal with success on a global scale like that.”

Amplified by Ted Lasso‘s pandemic release, Mohammed felt sheltered from much of the onslaught of attention. “When we were finally let out [of lockdown], we were like, ‘Oh my god, people really like it! And people across the other side of the world like it!’ As Brits, we were so delighted. But it was very alien to us, actually. So I was glad that I was 39, 40 when that happened, rather than 21.”

It must have been hard to imagine reaching loftier heights than Ted Lasso. But with the arrival of the first season of 2025’s The Celebrity Traitors — undeniably one of the best pieces of reality TV Britain has seen in recent years — his star ascended even higher. “It absolutely became another notch in my career,” says Mohammed. “I can definitely judge pre-Celebrity Traitors and after in terms of the things [I’m offered],” like hosting this year’s Olivier Awards, he says, a gig that he was seemingly completely at home in. “That was absolutely because I was on Celebrity Traitors.”

Celebrity Traitors — in which Mohammed played a dutiful, adorably generous, but yes, unsuccessful, faithful — was full of uncertainties. “I didn’t know how it was going to fare, but I was such a fan of that show and by then, Stephen Fry was attached. I think Celia [Imrie] was, and someone else. Clare Balding, maybe. I was like, ‘Well, who am I to say no to this?’” he says. Little did he know he’d be storming his way through to the final, watched by an average of 11.1 million people (the biggest live audience of 2025 for a single TV show).

It’d be remiss not to touch on season two of Celebrity Traitors, currently dominating British television and accruing an even larger audience than its predecessor. Set to wrap up in a nail-biting finale this Friday, this year’s is considered a little flatter than Mohammed’s season. But the star has filmed an Uncloaked episode still to air, and having seen more than us punters, he’s adamant there are “absolutely massive moments to come.” Mohammed says: “Increasingly, I think Celebrity Traitors is an analogy for one’s career in this industry because it’s so unpredictable… I’ve seen it all up until the final,” he adds, “and it just gets better and better.”

Such is Mohammed’s tie to this franchise that he’s been tapped to play Claudia Winkleman’s puppet-master role in the West End’s The Traitors — Acts of Betrayal on stage, which starts rehearsals in January ahead of June previews. “John Finnemore wrote them, one of the best writers in the U.K.,” says Mohammed, practically vibrating with excitement. “It’s a cycle of five plays — the same cast of 12 contestants — and the first 10 minutes of each play are the same, but depending on who’s made Traitors, it dictates where the play goes. They are vastly different, all with completely different, shocking twists and turns.” Co-produced by Studio Lambert, which makes the show, and Pippa Harris and Sam Mendes’ Neal Street, the Gillian Lynne Theatre will be confident about filling seats.

Our conversation is also perfectly timed to Mohammed’s latest role in George Kay’s slick, sexy War, which landed a two-season order from Sky bosses. Led by Dominic West and Sienna Miller, the London-set divorce trial thriller is addictive TV. Mohammed promises it’ll continue to be just that. “In season one, I’m not really in it that much, and I knew that was the case really early on,” says the star, who plays fellow lawyer to Phoebe Fox’s Serena Byrne and James McArdle’s Nick Taylor. “George, the writer, and Ben Taylor, who directed the first block, were really open about that. I do a lot more in season two, which, annoyingly, I can’t talk about yet because it’s not out for another year.” That second installment is already filmed, he does reveal.

So what can he tell us about Michael as a character? Mohammed describes him as an “arrogant” man who “doesn’t know how to talk to women.” He continues: “A lot of this is building towards stuff in season two. And he’s a bit of an outsider, a bit of a loner, actually. He’s married to the job.” And in a stroke of genius from the casting team, it reunites Mohammed with his Traitors co-star Celia Imrie, who felt close enough to the actor to ad-lib slightly offensively. “We very quickly established as an ensemble that Michael is the most disliked. There’s literally a bit where Celia’s character Budgie says, ‘I loathe him.’ That was improvised!” (Imrie, if you’re reading, don’t worry — he’s still chuckling.)

Somewhere along the way, in between War, the West End, a Mr. Swallow special which Universal is distributing, and “various things” in development with the BBC, Channel 4 and Apple, Mohammed has quietly built a far-and-wide industry reputation for being genuinely, downright lovely. Backstage, on set and in meetings, London insiders only have nice things to say.

And in true Nick Mohammed fashion, he bats away the compliment — ”You’ll make me blush!” — while still making an astute observation about the way showbiz works in this country. “It’s what I do for a living and get paid for, so the least you can do is be nice and be grateful, right? I do sometimes balk at the idea that one should be praised for the bare minimum,” he says. “I mean, don’t get me wrong — I’m not without ego, but there’s a difference between [being egotistical] and [possessing] all the ingredients that go into ego that I actually think are really, really useful. You need ambition, you need to have pride in your work, you need to have confidence and you need to speak up in a group.”

“Of course, there is a tipping point where confidence becomes arrogance,” he adds. “Or self-belief in one’s work comes at a sacrifice to somebody else’s. But I don’t think I’d survive in the industry without an element of it.” Still, he credits his wife, a music teacher, for keeping him grounded. “If I bang on about my problems at work, she’s like, ‘Well, those are all first-world problems!’”

From here? It’s variation this magician-turned-superstar is craving. And his schedule would suggest that’s coming in abundance — don’t expect a vanishing act from Nick Mohammed anytime soon.