Family history TV show Who Do You Think You Are? will return to BBC One on Thursday 26 May, with a new series starring celebrities including Sue Perkins and Richard Osman.
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The five-episode series will launch on 26 May, followed by a week’s break for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, returing on Thursday 9 June.
Carl Callam, BBC Commissioning Editor for Documentaries, said: “We are pleased to be back with a brand new series of Who Do You Think You Are? It’s great to see some of our most loved celebrities trace their family history through these remarkable journeys, and their compelling stories. It’s such an extraordinary series, one that has story and heart at the centre, with a real resonance that brings history to life and shines a light on who and where we are now.”
Read on to discover more about the complete celebrity line-up for Who Do You Think You Are? 2022, and what you can expect from each episode…
Who is on Who Do You Think You Are? 2022?
Sue Perkins
Former Great British Bake Off host, comedian and presenter Sue Perkins kicks off the series with a poignant story of an orphaned grandfather and a great grandfather interned as an ‘enemy alien’ during the First World War. But when she delves into a German branch who were living in Eastern Europe through the Second World War, she uncovers a harrowing and unfortunately all-too-timely tale of refugees fleeing across borders.
Former Great British Bake Off host, comedian and presenter Sue Perkins kicks off the series with a poignant story of an orphaned grandfather and a great grandfather interned as an ‘enemy alien’ during the First World War. But when she delves into a German branch who were living in Eastern Europe through the Second World War, she uncovers a harrowing and unfortunately all-too-timely tale of refugees fleeing across borders.
Richard Osman
TV producer, quiz-show presenter and bestselling novelist Richard Osman reveals that he was close to his maternal grandfather Frederick when he was growing up. He was a military man who became an expert signaller and “a perfect male role model”. Osman traces his forebear’s life and, further back, learns about a murder case that gripped the attention of Regency Britain.
Matt Lucas
Actor, comedian, writer and TV presenter Matt Lucas of Little Britain and Bake Off fame is Jewish and wants to know more about his maternal grandmother Margot, who came to the UK from Germany in 1939. The Holocaust looms large in what he discovers, in both Berlin and Amsterdam.
Anna Maxwell Martin
Anna Maxwell Martin, whose screen appearances include Motherland and Line of Duty, visits Northern Ireland and Scotland in her research. Family tragedy and a life built in the face of huge adversity feature in her family's past.
Ralf Little
The final episode focuses on Death in Paradise and Royle Family star Ralf Little. Despite seeing himself as Mancunian to the core, Little knows that he has Welsh roots. He uncovers, among others, a naval man who fought in the Pacific, and a gifted footballer who found God.
Sarah Williams is the editor of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine
