Claudia Winkleman stars in British Museum Bayeux Tapestry film as new tickets revealed
- maxwell museums
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
TV icon Claudia Winkleman stars as the British Museum’s new Head of Security in a dramatic new film teasing the upcoming landmark display of the Bayeux Tapestry, which has returned to the UK for the first time in nearly 1,000 years.
Winkleman — who joined the museum’s trustee board in 2025 — said: “It was an honour to be part of this excellent film,” which begins with a nod to her role presenting gameshow the Traitors for the BBC.
The first scene sees her at a desk with the British Museum’s director Nicholas Cullinan as he welcomes her for the first day in the new job. “You do have experience dealing with untrustworthy characters, don’t you?,” Cullinan asks. A reveal of her face in a Traitors-esque edit sees her reply “You could say that, sir.”
The film then shows Winkleman’s security guard persona patrol the museum’s galleries before the doors open to the public. But she quickly discovers some unexpected characters who shouldn’t be there.
This soon leads to a full invasion of Norman and Anglo-Saxon soldiers. With no backup in sight, Winkleman finds herself powerless to prevent the two armies from coming face-to-face just like they did at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but this time inside the Museum’s renowned Great Court.
The action-packed trailer was produced in collaboration with the film company Spacebar, and it uses both live action sequences (filmed after-hours at the museum), and visual effects. To capture the Great Court battle, each re-enactor and the room itself was individually scanned to perfect the scene.
The trailer premiered on the iconic screens of Piccadilly Circus in London’s West End, watched on by museum staff and actors dressed as the Norman and Saxon soldiers. After 24 hours, the film has received over half-a-million views on Instagram, and 33,000 on YouTube.
More Bayeux Tapestry tickets coming on 21 October
The release was timed to coincide with the announcement that the next wave of public tickets for the British Museum's Tapestry exhibition will go on sale on 21 October at 10am. This will be for visits from January to March 2027.
When the first tranche went on sale in July — with tickets costing £33 in peak time — there were online queues that saw wait times of up to nine hours as over 500,000 people tried to nab the 100,000 slots. Similar demand is expected for this second ticket drop.
The huge anticipation for this show has been fuelled by the landmark nature of the exhibition.
The 70-metre-long tapestry — which is made of linen with embroidered images of the Norman Conquest — arrived in London in a top-secret overnight trip with heavy security earlier this summer. The artwork has never been back on British shores since it was created here in the 11th century.
Its loan to the UK is also being seen as the ultimate soft power play, and one to repair frayed relations between France and Britain. Many previous plans to loan the treasure have failed, but finally the exchange was confirmed for 2026 because French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s King Charles wanted to show that the troubles of Brexit were in the past.
These sentiments were echoed by UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who has said previously that the Tapestry’s return “is an historic moment and a significant act of friendship.” She added that it was “a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn about this pivotal period in our national story and our shared heritage and friendship with France.”
As the opening date of the exhibition draws near, Bayeux fever is set to reach new heights. There’ll be a day of special programming on BBC Radio 4 and a new TV documentary on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. The Times newspaper will produce a free glossy pull-out guide to the artwork. And the exhibition itself will be inaugurated by President Macron and King Charles on Wednesday 02 September, which will receive significant coverage.
And the British Museum’s book publishing arm are also set for a busy September, as they release an astonishing eight books on the exhibition and the artefact’s history, including a £150 Bayeux Tapestry collector's edition catalogue.
