Family history show, Who Do You Think You Are?, returns to BBC One and iPlayer this summer, celebrating its 20th anniversary with a remarkable line-up of celebrities ready to explore their ancestral journeys. Spanning centuries and crossing continents, this series promises to engage and move audiences with its mix of emotional discoveries and surprising revelations.
Kicking off this celebratory season, BAFTA and RTS award-winning actress Vicky McClure uncovers the harrowing story of her great-grandfather’s experience as a Japanese prisoner of war. Presenter, actor, and comedian Paddy McGuinness discovers his family’s connection to World War II and explores the origins of his surname in Ireland, finding out that he almost didn’t bear the McGuinness name.
BRIT-nominated popstar Olly Murs heads to Riga, Latvia, where he uncovers a lineage of circus performers, proving that entertainment truly runs in his blood. Former Spice Girl and musical artist Melanie Chisholm, aka Mel C, explores her family’s political activism and their survival during the Great Famine in Ireland. Actor, presenter, and disability rights campaigner Rose Ayling-Ellis uncovers an incident in Birmingham that eerily mirrors a plotline from EastEnders.
The series also features Essex-born reality TV star Gemma Collins, who experiences an emotional reunion with a long-lost family member and traces her Essex roots back further than she could have imagined. Olympic gold medallist and former heptathlon world champion Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill travels to Jamaica, where she learns about her relative’s journey from enslavement to land ownership.
Over the past two decades, Who Do You Think You Are? has featured an impressive roster of celebrities, including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Kate Winslet, Graham Norton, Danny Dyer, Michelle Keegan, and many more. The show has unveiled connections to global royalty, historical figures, and even uncanny parallels between celebrities and their ancestors.
Who Do You Think You Are? is produced by Wall to Wall Media, with Colette Flight as Executive Producer and Lucy Swingler as Series Producer. The format is distributed by Warner Bros. International Television Production.
