Crack open the bubbly and grab a slice of cake. It’s 20 years since the first episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, and that’s worth celebrating. When the BBC launched a new TV programme in 2004 exploring the family history of celebrities, they could not have predicted that two decades later it would be such a beloved highlight of our viewing schedules.
It’s not just popular in the UK either. The format has seen offshoots in more than a dozen countries including the USA, Australia, Canada, Ireland and the Netherlands. Broadcast originally on BBC Two, the programme leapt to the number-one slot for the channel that year and by the third series had moved to BBC One where it has stayed ever since.
So, we asked a range of people, from those involved in the programme to genealogists and our followers on Facebook, to share their favourite memories from the original UK series.
Our call-out initiated a huge response on Facebook and our Facebook Group, which left us with a dilemma. How do we choose 20 favourite moments from a show that has created more than 170 outstanding episodes?
The moments we have selected all reflect personal choices, but they were all episodes that others had also nominated. It was such fun reading people’s posts and being reminded of so many stand-out moments including comedian and author David Mitchell reacting to the scathing will left by his ancestor John Forbes, and stand-up Sarah Millican trying on a diving suit.
There were also lots of nominations for Jerry Springer’s and Matt Lucas’ episodes, and all those that featured the Holocaust or the First World War.
Whatever it is that makes an episode stand out for you, we hope you will enjoy our trip down memory lane. You will be pleased to know that the production team at Wall to Wall are already busy working on next year’s episodes. Here’s to the next 20 years!
1. Laura Berry, Who Do You Think You Are? genealogist
Caribbean research is challenging, so the breakthroughs we had with actor Naomie Harris blew me away. Using records from three islands, many of which are on FamilySearch, Ancestry and the British Library’s site, we proved her descent from a plantation overseer in Grenada on one branch, and an African woman enslaved in Jamaica on another. Seeing her reaction to discovering her 18th-century Nigerian ancestor’s name was a special moment for me.
2. Ben Thompson, Who Do You Think You Are? viewer
I remember when barrister Robert Rinder met his grandfather’s friend, a Holocaust survivor, at the site of the camp where they had been held captive. It was difficult for the gentleman to talk about it, but he wanted people to know what happened. A moving moment to reflect that these horrors happened in the not-too-distant past and are still, just, in living memory.
3. Rosemary Collins, Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine features editor
I loved actor Olivia Colman’s moving quest to find out more about her 3x great grandmother Harriot Slessor, who was born in 19th-century India to a British father and an Indian mother. Olivia’s words about Harriot really brought home how our ancestors are closer to us than we might think: “Her grandson is my mum’s grandad, which means we’ve all touched each other’s hands throughout time.
4. Liz Yule, Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies director of education
My favourite moment has to be comedian Josh Widdicombe’s episode, where he traced his ancestors back to Henry VIII. I was literally shouting at the screen, “Have you not seen The Other Boleyn Girl ?!” Hever Castle was a great setting for the viewer to see Josh learn about Tudor history.
5. Karen Cummings, Pharos Tutors managing director
My favourite moment is still the very first episode with conservationist Bill Oddie. It was such a personal story and so honest and heartfelt, as Bill uncovered the truth of what his mother had been through and how she had not abandoned him through choice. At one point Bill says, “This isn’t curiosity this journey, it’s self help.” It also resonated with my own story of a great aunt who ended up in a different mental hospital in Birmingham at around the same time.
6. Robbie Bennie, Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine art editor
My favourite moment is when actor Brian Blessed was shown a marriage certificate from 1876. At the age of 60 his ancestor Jabez Blessed, who had been separated from his family by the workhouse system, married for a second time, and his brother Charles was a witness. Brian’s reaction to the news that they had managed to find each other really moved me.
7. Sarah Williams, Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine editor
I loved the moment in presenter Natasha Kaplinsky’s episode when her cousin sang a Hebrew prayer in an abandoned synagogue. I think I needed a whole box of tissues after that!
8. Lucy Swingler, Who Do You Think You Are? producer and director
In actor Stephen Fry’s episode, a special moment for me was when he found a plaque on the house in Vienna where his great grandparents had lived in 1942. The current owner had wanted to commemorate all those who had lived in her building and died in the Holocaust. It was one of those serendipitous moments: we were in the Jewish quarter, and every house in the area would have been home to a Jewish family. It just so happened that this particular house had a plaque listing Stephen’s forebears’ names: Bertha and Samuel Braun.
9. Anne-Marie Byrne, Who Do You Think You Are? production executive
I will always remember the moment when the research team uncovered actor Dame Judi Dench’s links to Shakespeare. In my role as the production executive I don’t go on location, but I love to watch the episodes when they are finished and see how the discoveries were revealed on camera. Judi’s delight in discovering her family’s connection to Shakespeare and the significance Shakespeare has played in her career was for me a really unforgettable moment in Who Do You Think You Are? history.
10. Sara Khan, Who Do You Think You Are? genealogist
Connecting actor Danny Dyer to royalty was truly astonishing – a literal rags-to-riches story! We linked his working-class Buttivant family to landed gentry, the Gosnolds. They descended from the blue-blooded Tollemaches, gateway ancestors to the Cromwells and Plantagenet royalty. It was amazing to see how this discovery changed Danny’s idea of himself.
11. Jan Driver, Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine Facebook Group member
I loved it when the rower Matthew Pinsent saw that scroll showing how his line went back from William the Conqueror, through Jesus, King David and ended with God!
12. Colette Flight, Who Do You Think You Are? executive producer
A moment I found particularly powerful was former Strictly Come Dancing dancer Kevin Clifton’s reaction to seeing a photo of his Canadian First Nations 5x great grandmother, Nancy, and then discovering that she was also known as Matooskie. Kevin had told us about a rumour of Canadian Indigenous ancestry, possibly connected to a woman called Matooskie, and it was extremely touching to see how moved Kevin was to discover and honour this extraordinary ancestor.
13. Paul Brouwer-Townsend, Who Do You Think You Are? viewer
I loved it when actor Patsy Kensit learnt she was standing on her ancestor’s resting place! To be held in such high regard that the parishioners buried him in the church – what a moment of pride.
14. Natalie Pithers, Society of Genealogists communications manager
My favourite moment is when broadcaster Jeremy Paxman visited the slums of Glasgow. It was incredibly moving, but also hopeful – in that he was descended from this bleak poverty and now lives such a different life.
15. Gill Thomas, Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives chair
I’ve been moved by the many stories of migration, especially in the episodes featuring footballer Alex Scott and comedian Sue Perkins, but my standout moment has to be actor and writer Ruth Jones visiting the home of her master mariner great great grandfather in New Quay, Ceredigion. There are so many small villages that were home to ocean-going mariners in the age of sail, including my own ancestors.
16. Stephen Miller, Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine Facebook Group member
We should never be ashamed of our ancestors or what they had to endure to make it in life, and actor Alex Kingston’s reaction when she realised her ancestor was a sex worker summed this up for me. I loved that she was amused, fascinated and, by the end of the story, proud of her ancestor – and that Alex took the profession for what it was: a way for a single mother to earn a living.
17. Charlotte Gardener, Who Do You Think You Are? viewer
Sue Perkins’ episode helped me understand what happened to my German grandmother’s brother, who was taken by the Nazis due to his learning difficulties. He died in a concentration camp in 1942, the same year as Sue’s relative. Seeing her reaction at the end when she realised the church connected to her family was now a boxing gym was a beautiful full-circle moment.
18. Joanna Hill, Who Do You Think You Are? viewer
I loved it when comedian Jack Whitehall realised his family were on the wrong side of the Welsh Chartists. It was brilliant!
19. Tahitia McCabe, Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies head
Author Ruby Wax’s strength and humour was so inspiring as she found out about her family’s history of mental illness. I very much appreciated the care and kindness shown by the experts she worked with. The episode was challenging to watch but ultimately uplifting and hopeful, just what you hope for from Who Do You Think You Are?
20. Anna Kirkwood, Who Do You Think You Are? development producer
For me one of the standout moments came in broadcaster Jerry Springer’s episode. After uncovering the stories of multiple relations who had died in the Holocaust, including both of Jerry’s grandmothers, we found Yaron, a Springer family descendant. Yaron travelled from Israel to meet Jerry, and tell him the story of his own father’s escape from Nazi persecution. After the horrors that Jerry had discovered, to meet Yaron and learn that he had a large family in Israel was truly heart-warming.
