To think "Who do you think you are?" is a waste of money?

[moreslackthanslick]

As a TV show?

Surely the only person interested in someone's family history would be that person and close relatives! Why this became a Tv Series is a bit beyond me, couldn't care less about Danny Dyer or Amanda Holden's forefathers!

AIBU?

Makes note to watch Danny Dyer WDYTUA episode

Agree with Batteries - It doesn't really matter who they pick, because a certain percentage of the population will be related to someone exciting enough to make a programme around and the rest won't. Picking from within "celebrities" just means that the living person hanging it together will be more likely than average to be OK in front of the cameras - pretty much the only variable which they can control.

I watched the Danny Dyer one and yes, it was interesting, but I don't understand why people are saying it was the best TV EVER and stuff like that. What was so amazing about it?

OP I can't believe you started a thread like this when you've never even watched an episode.

I hate Chris Moyles but his WDYTYA was brilliant. I really saw a different side to him and learned a lot about history too.

That Danny Dyer episode was hilarious. King ov Essex!!

YABVU

I love a good episode of WDYTYA.

Natasha Kaplinski's always sticks in my mind. Just harrowing. And her cousin singing in the synagogue in Belarus. So moving.

Does anybody else remember Carol Vorderman's hilariously inappropriate outfit to tour the battlefields of Belgium?

puppy I just find the concept strange. I have since learnt its more than that and may watch in future. I was asking if I was being U, accepted I am and also learnt it's maybe a bit more than what I thought it was so I may watch in future. I rarely watch TV in general actually.

Personally I loved Kim Cattral's because her grandmother (is that right?) abandoned by bigamist husband lived very close to my great-grandmother 'abandoned' by her husband dying and ending up similarly destitute. I've heard stories from my grandmother about growing up in the slums but seeing their account of it was really interesting.

So YABU OP because you never know, although it's a celebrity on screen it might be relevant to your family history too.

I've caught the last two episodes and loved them. Put it on 'series record'! I love the thought that when someone has a child, hundreds of years later there could be a whole web of people who exist as a direct result of just that ONE birth, and that you can trace back your ancestry to see who came before you; their lives and actions led to our existence.

Jeremy Paxman cried when he heard about the tragic life of an ancestor, it can be powerful stuff.

The Amanda Holden one will be a waste of money for me as I cannot stand the stupid mare.

Danny Dyer's one was fascinTing.

And Danny Dyer being related to Edward IV and Thomas Cromwell....it would be pretty exciting if you found out those individuals were your ancestors - major figures involved in shaping this country's history.

I think it's interesting because I like history and seeing its impact on real people. I'd watch it even if it wasn't featuring famous people.

I bet it's considerably cheaper than most of the BBC's programmes. They'll have one camera person, a director, producer, editor and a couple of researchers. They'll be a fee for the celeb of course.

The cost of the flights is pretty minor in comparison to the budget for most programmes I'd think.

I don't mind it as a show (wouldn't turn over or walk out of the room if it were on, but wouldn't choose to watch it), but I really resent that it's on the BBC and therefore using my money for them to fly around the world in what is essentially a vanity project. Fine as a concept but make it on a commercial channel and let them pay for it.

Frank Gardner's was another good episode.

Nigel Havers was most put out to find he was descended from working class and lower middle class stock. He was wistfully looking for an aristo.

And John Hurt was furious to find out that he didn't actually have any Irish heritage.

You think a show that's been going for 14 series, has millions of viewers, has been sold to numerous countries around the world and sells plenty of magazines, books and DVDs is a waste of money?

The basic maths shows that due to not a lot of people being around back then and a lot of people being around now, we could trace our family trees - with enough time and money - back and find ourselves connected to a royal, a Cromwell, a famous painter or frankly whomever we fancied. Research suggests we would all find a common ancestor around the 1400s, where each of our individual webs would eventually cross paths.

"Descent" is meaningless after a few generations. Literally, in fact, as after a few rounds their DNA is diluted and then gone anyway, so for those who want to believe their love of plush velvet is clearly due to their Royal connections... nope.

It seems a peculiarly English thing to waste energy wondering where we came from, because we have this lack of national pride that makes us consider ourselves quite dull. We conjure up ideas of the 'exotic' other and long to find some mere scrap of evidence to claim we are different, special, better than the heard. A Russian 8 generations ago. A minor Lord 16 generations ago. Oh, well, makes all the difference.

I also don't understand why people have such short memories and have collectively climbed up Danny Dyer's arse over this show. Can we all remember he once 'advised' a writer to his column, who was asking for advice on how to get over his ex-girlfriend, to 'slash her across the face so no one else will want her.' And now he's the nation's fucking darling?

Gareth Malone's was very interesting and his Grandad was brilliant.

I am a bit shallow in that I only watch if I like the celebrity. So gave Mand's a swerve this week after about ten minutes in.

Watching amanda Holden last night confirmed everything I think of her. Over excited, vacuous banging on about how romantic she is blah blah and those lumpy fillers....

I've only seen a few episodes ever, none very recently and I freely admit to having no idea at all who Danny Dyer is! but I like it despite the celebrity angle, because of the focus on ordinary people's history rather than the Big Men and Battles approach. The best episodes I've seen reminded me of a short series that I think has been some of the best TV I've seen in years, The Secret History of Our Streets, which I recommend to anyone who likes social history:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jt9zh

Sometimes WDYTYA is funny because of what someone thinks they're descended from, and the reality, which surprises and delights or disappoints them. The very first episode I ever saw was John Hurt, who was clearly very psychologically invested in what he believed were his Irish roots, but it turned out there were no grounds for the family tradition that he was descended from an illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Sligo, and JH was gutted...

Patsy Kensit was another interesting one - all her closest ancestors, down to her father, were criminals , and she burst into hysterical tears when she discovered that one of her 19thc ancestors was a famous philanthropic vicar.

I do agree, though, that all the flying and training about - and those moody shots staring out of windows at the countryside - are a bit much for a few photocopies...

I love Who Do You Think You Are!

Kim Catrall's was brilliant, as was Chris Moyles' and Mrs Brown from Mrs Brown's Boys (forget his real name) solved a real life murder mystery.

They were brilliant tv!