‘Who Do You Think You Are’ with Jodie

After 16 years on our screens and 145 episodes (not including two specials), you might think that the BBC’s researchers had run out of people to appear on its genealogy show.

But not a bit of it. There may be only four celebrities appearing in the latest series, but that’s because filming had to be halted due to coronavirus restrictions rather than a lack of interest.

David Walliams embraced the experience, and was thrilled to hear stories of long-forgotten relatives including his great-great-grandfather who, after going blind, forged a new career as a travelling entertainer. He’s also moved by another tale involving the battlefields of the First World War.

“I started off the journey knowing very little about my ancestry,” smiles the actor, writer and TV personality. “In making the programme I found out lots of family history I would never have learned of. I was pleased to discover that being an entertainer runs in the family.”

Actor Liz Carr also unearths personal tales from the Great War while investigating her paternal grandfather, who served in the Royal Navy’s Northern Patrol. She then learns about an ancestor who, unlike her former Silent Witness character Clarissa Mullery, was on the wrong side of the law.

“I’ve watched Who Do You Think You Are? over the years so to be selected to have the show research my family history has been a wonderfully surreal experience,” says Carr. “I have loved every moment of discovery, of following in the footsteps of my ancestors and learning how the past has informed my present. All of the experts were generous and fascinating as they guided me back in time to introduce me to my family. Before doing Who Do You Think You Are? all I really knew about my ancestors was that they had died but now I know that they lived and how they lived. I like knowing that, I like knowing who they were and I feel very proud to be related to them.”

Ruth Jones, one of the stars and creators of Gavin and Stacey, echoes that sentiment: “I feel so privileged to have been taken on this spectacular journey into my heritage and to have discovered so much about my ancestors. I feel like I’ve got to know the real people behind the fading sepia photographs and it’s made me want to find out more.”

But first up is Jodie Whittaker. As the star of Doctor Who, she’s used to travelling through time, but delving into the past has never been so personal before.

“I discovered people and events that I had no idea existed,” claims Whittaker. “I was lucky to go home and see my Mum and Dad, lucky to see places I’d never been to before, and lucky to meet and shake hands with some wonderful and intelligent people whose insight into history blew my mind. And only in February did I embark on this journey, and knowing where we are now, it feels even more special to have had this adventure.”

Watch out for her reactions to information about her great uncle’s wartime sacrifice and some uncomfortable facts.

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