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Who Do You Think You Are?

102 replies

HPD76 · 14/10/2021 01:25

Can I just recommend to you the latest Josh Widdecombe episode of this? I’m not a huge fan of his, and I can mostly take or leave WDYTYA, but this was the most incredible hour of telly I’ve watched in a long time. It gave me goosebumps.

OP posts:
Classica · 15/10/2021 14:24

Natasha Kaplinsky's was a v memorable one for me.

diddl · 15/10/2021 14:28

@Classica

Natasha Kaplinsky's was a v memorable one for me.
Don't think I saw that one.
Heathofhares · 15/10/2021 14:29

For me June Brown was a classic episode. They traced her Jewish ancestry back to the middle ages - it was amazing

RubyFakeLips · 15/10/2021 14:32

Didn't Bloody Boris end up being related to Charlemagne and maybe God?

I love, love love WDYTYA. I've done my own family tree so am biased. Surprising ones like this are always the best. June Brown, Mark Wright, Danny Dyer and Judge Rinder were all excellent.

I didn't know about groom of the stool but did have DH bellowing "The OTHER Bxxxxx girl" in excitement.

woodhill · 15/10/2021 18:00

I really enjoyed this particular episode

Is he related to Ann Widdecombe I wonder

TeaSoakedDisasterMagnet · 15/10/2021 18:11

Judge Rinder’s episode was incredible and so moving. It prompted him to do another programme about his family and others that were in concentration camps. Heartbreaking.

The one for Ruby Wax was also fascinating, you could see it really made her question some of the stuff she knows about mental health problems in families.

ToffeeNotCoffee · 15/10/2021 18:38

Jerry Springer's Who Do really was very moving. Him standing on an empty railway station platform in the pouring rain, in Germany I assume was just...well, words fail me.

Boy George was unexpectedly dramatic. Towards the end of his episode he was walking through a cemetery, all dressed in black with a stern look on his face. Very dramatic.

Brendan O'Caroll's Who do was shocking i.e. his Dad was murdered.

smallandimperfectlyformed · 15/10/2021 19:57

I never saw it but my mum said Kim Cattrall's Who Do You Think You Are was really interesting and sad. I think she had a dad who abandoned the whole family. I really enjoyed the Josh Widdecombe one, I even messaged my family on WhatsApp to tell them to watch it! One I recently enjoyed was Gregg Wallace, there was a really sad death in his family history

tomorrowalready · 15/10/2021 20:52

Kim Cattrall was impressively angry about her grandfather who abandoned his family in Liverpool in the 1930s depression to live with another woman. The historical point of that was that divorce was difficult and expensive to get so some unhappy people just went off and pretended to be married to someone else. I knew someone who did that in the 1970s and I think some other celebrities found ancestors who did too. Alan Carr?

One of the mosr surprising to me was Jeremy Paxham who I always assumed was solidly middle class. But he found extreme poverty, one ancestor being sold as a workhouse child for their labour and a Scottish great grandmother being denied help after she had a child out of wedlock when she was widowed. He cried over the injustice and showed a lot of respect for the Salvation Army who helped his family. Charles Dance was another who had a much poorer background than one would assume and revealed a lot about what people had to do to be 'respectable'.

awaynboilyurheid · 15/10/2021 21:21

I remember Richard Madeley being very pompous in his WDYTYA, his ancestor a young boy, was in Canada and had stormed a fort , he was all how brave etc till the guide told him the fort was held by First Nation woman and old men as the younger men had gone off to fight elsewhere so his ancestor had really taken part in a massacre. He soon changed his tune.
I still remember Anita Ranis it was very sad but she came across very well .

smallandimperfectlyformed · 16/10/2021 07:36

One that I just remembered was Graham Norton's episode, that was really interesting. He is Protestant and his family history involved some truly unpleasant attacks on Irish republicans. It was the first time I had seen one where the family were definitely the bad guys.

einekleinenachtarbeit · 16/10/2021 07:59

I enjoyed the Shirley Ballas one. She discovered her descendants were from south africa but then from the middle east somehow. And Daniel Radcliffe whose relative committed arson to make an insurance claim.

amillionmenonmars · 16/10/2021 09:29

I love this programme. I am sure Josh knew that Elizabeth had never married - he's an intelligent man. However, I loved his reaction to his family links - he was genuinely thrilled. I loved little comment "I thought they would all be apple pickers....."

I have found many previous episodes very interesting, many already mentioned. Kim Cattrall, Ainsley Harriot (he was so upset it really moved me), Jerry Springer, Judge Rinder and Stephen Fry and their links to family who died in the holocaust. I also really enjoyed Greg Davies and his Welsh family connections.

StCharlotte · 16/10/2021 09:37

@DobbyTheHouseElk

Sorry RevolutionRadio I think we are at crossed purposes. It’s my fault I’m talking about the Last Leg where they discuss WDYTYA. 8th October episode. It’s not on my All4 and on my iPad it’s there, but won’t play. So maybe there’s a issue at C4.
I believe there is. I've had to set an alarm for the repeat of this week's Bake Off as I can't find it in All4.
StCharlotte · 16/10/2021 09:56

My husband has a great mistress, illegitimate child situation in his family history which would be amazing in a tv series. Sadly he's not remotely famous.

It would be nice if one episode could be about a "normal" person. We have two very famous names in our family, only one or two generations back and are "allegedly" related. It would be fascinating to find out if it's true. Family members have done family trees but they've only gone up and not sideways.

When my mum was trying to get her (native) Australian passport she needed her English grandparents' marriage certificate. A family friend worked at Somerset House (before we all had access to this stuff) and things didn't tally. It piqued his interest and he looked further. It turned out her father and all his siblings were born out of wedlock but to the same couple. He was a "gentleman farmer", she was in service. They did marry but not until very soon after both his parents had died. We can guess what went on there.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 16/10/2021 11:00

Thank you StCharlotte good to know I’m not losing the plot!

womma · 16/10/2021 12:48

I remember another good one that was about Larry Lamb. His mother had been adopted because her mum was young and unmarried and wasn’t able to keep her child, all very sad. It followed his granny’s story and she’d gone to California and married a man who she set up a hairdressing salon with. And then Larry discovered he was related to a family of travelling fairground owners, it was a riot!

All those poor women and their children separated because they weren’t married, it seems there was so much unnecessary misery people had to live with.

Nameswaptime · 16/10/2021 13:00

Courtney Cox was on the American version of the show and she was a descendant of William the Conqueror. Great episode.

Wingedharpy · 20/10/2021 01:21

I know I'm being really thick here but, how can anyone trace their roots back to God?
AFAIK there never was a Mrs. God....... was there?Blush

knittingaddict · 20/10/2021 07:54

I think the God thing was a concept from previous centuries, possibly medieval times. It was written on the family trees of kings and queens as a way of reinforcing their sovereignty. From what I remember they had an ancient scroll that went back to God, possibly via Adam and Eve.

ToffeeNotCoffee · 20/10/2021 08:03

Judi Dench Who Do was really good. She didn't know she had Danish ancestry !

She was fascinated, humbled and excited all at the same time. Brilliant.

Family history traced back to God ? To Adam and Eve ? Yeah, why not ?!!

ElftonWednesday · 20/10/2021 08:07

Mine would be all miners, potters, and other skilled and semi skilled manual workers and lived within a radius of a few miles. So my grandfather striking out and moving 50 miles away for work was a huge thing. As was my parents having education beyond the age of 14, and my going to university, joining a traditional profession and moving 200 miles away

What often strikes me about these is how many famous people come from a line of gentry or nobility. Some quite the reverse, but not many out of the ones I've seen.

lollipoprainbow · 20/10/2021 08:08

Judi definitely has a danish look as does her grandson !

StCharlotte · 20/10/2021 08:36

The whole Hamlet full circle was just jawdropping.

Auroreforet · 20/10/2021 08:47

I really enjoyed the Judi Dench one last night.
She was so proud and happy in a lovely way.
My maternal dgm ancestry we think is Danish, doubt I'm related to Dame Judi though. 😀

I think the reason so many WDYTYA guests have interesting ancestry is because the programme makers have a look at backgrounds and then choose accordingly.
I don't think they choose a guest without being sure the programme will be watchable.