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?

Well they couldn't tell me the value until I signed up and they sent the paperwork to court, so sacked them off and did it myself.

I really enjoy WDYTYA Anita Rani from one show and countryfile was heartbreaking and she was so moved I really liked her . I am also trying to remember a spooky one think it was Robert Lyndsay who found an ancestor had died on the exact date he was on tv being shown the records but obvs hundreds of years ago.

Brooke Shields one was good, her father had told her she was related to French royalty and she was like "yeah right".
Turns out it was true! She also spoke fluent French which helped.

Ooh i forgot about the brendan carroll (mrs brown) one. That was amazing. And unusual as they only looked at the one ancestor. Can"t remember brian blessed but thought boris johnson was good. They repeat them on the yesterday channel .

I remember the Alistair McGowan one where it turned out he wasn't Scottish despite his name but Anglo-Indian with a distant Irish relative with the name McGowan.

re Heir Hunters

A genealogy nut I know was approached by them some years ago. She managed to get enough info out of them to work out who had died, so put in her own claim to the estate without having to pay them anything!

I like it, too, in general, though some are more interesting than others. I like it more than many of the other celeb TV programmes like Strictly or I'm A Celebrity.

The HH seem to spend a lot of their time driving round the country ringing doorbells and the people aren't in.

It does seem morbid.

The Bill Oddie episode was heartbreaking as he discovered why his mother was committed to a mental institution.
Minnie Driver's was fascinating and she came across as a lovely person.

I have watched all of the UK series and my favourites are the edition with Kim Cattrall and the one with Kate Humble whose Grandfather was a German prisoner of war.

The USA edition with Sarah Jessica Parker is also very good as was her husband Matthew Broderie. Both have ancestors directly involved with major events in American History.

yy to HH do it yourself

they charge 50 per cent commission apparently

I also loved The Secret History of Our Streets. Really fascinating. The streets in Notting Hill built in the mid 19th century for the middle classes, quickly becoming slum housing until they became middle class homes in the 70s and then millionaires' homes in the 21st c. Fascinating but also sad.

mitzy I remember that programme, too. It was really interesting. Definitely worth watching if you're interested in social history, and not a blubbing sleb in sight.

Fiona Bruce and Billy Connolly were very good. It don't watch often, but those two I have seen and thought they were worth watching.

One of my brothers has been researching quite a bit, and traced the paternal paternal family back to likely coming from Germany, where the trace ends. My paternal maternal family were from an area of notorious headbashers, the women included (serving sentences and all that, hence records). Fascinating.

I love it. I've only seen a couple of the British ones; I can't figure out when it airs here. I've seen Brian Blessed and JK Rowling.

Some of the US ones are really good, though. Scott Foley had an ancestor who was hanged as a witch in Salem, and they found a letter he had written the night before his hanging, and it was so horrible and said I cried and cried.

Chelsea Handler's grandfather (or great-grandfather) was a Nazi soldier who was captured by the Americans. He was sent to a prison camp in Iowa, and they had his prison records; when he was captured he was skinny and sickly, and three months of being in prison he had gained weight and looked healthy and happy. The record said he had starred in some kind of prison musical and he was doing well there. It was interesting to see that he was better off in prison than as a soldier.

Bryan Cranston found out his great-grandfather died at the VA hospital in Dayton, and my great-grandfather died at the VA hospital in Dayton, which I thought was cool.

I work for one of the firms on Heir Hunters. Highest percentage charged is usually 20%, often less. Nobody would get any heirs signed at 50%, it's a highly competitive industry.

Mrsjay I'm Scottish. Plenty of Heir Hunting up here, please be assured!

I have met the film crew, through work, producing an episode, it was some time ago ( over 2 years at least) it was months and months in progress, then days of research for all of 15 minutes of tv in that particular area.

No one has mention on the thread this particular episode, but it was fairly interesting and different background to others.

I love WDYTYA. Episodes that stick out in my mind are Sarah Miilican - DH is related to her via a mutual ancestor, and Jerry Springer tracing his Jewish ancesty which was incredibly sad. I love social history and as a history grad I like anything historical, especially if it gets people interested in the past. I've also been heir hunted, but it was nothing like the series, but did inspire me to research my own family history. The commision was nowhere near 50% though as mentioned upthread.

Jeez i have just spent the past hour watching Jim Parsons and SJP- that was incredible!

He American version gets quite big names participating.

good i'm glad its not 50 per cent - i read this years ago. happy to be corrected.

On paper I would agree with you but it's actually a really fascinating show

The stories are rarely boring. I assume the researchers check there are some interesting ancestors before they approach the celebrity

I like WDYTYA. There's been some really good, and hard hitting, episodes.

I also love the Australian version. Cathy Freeman's was a very good one.

David Mitchell was very good (this is going years back now). A lot of it was about the highland clearances which is something I knew nothing about and it made me go and read more about it

Didn't the David Mitchell episode also have an amusing part where he read the will of a mean old g g g grandfather who didn't leave his wife a penny? 😂