Who do you think you are new series

About time we had another series   tho you can't beat the early episodes with the likes of Jeremy Paxman shedding a tear and the Kim Cattrall episode is still my absolute favourite.

Found these names on Roots.

Paul Hollywood, Mark Gattis, Jerry Hall, Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner,  Anita Rani,
Frances de la Tour, Sir Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid.
And Jane Seymour.

Anyone know who Mark Gattis, Gareth Malone, Frank Gardner or Anne Reid are  

Mark Gattis is an actor.  He was Mycroft to Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock.

Gareth Malone is a musician/choir master.  Central figure in various TV programmes about forming choirs (e.g. Military Wives) and getting them to perform in public.

Frank Gardner is a BBC foreign correspondent.  He was severely wounded some years ago while on assignment and now broadcasts either from a wheelchair or standing with the aid of sticks.

Anne Reid is an actress, now in her late 70s.  She's been in loads of things, but the latest I can think of is Last Tango in Halifax.

This is you Arts and Entertainments Correspondent signing off for the day

Most informative thank you

I did wonder if Anne Reid was an actress but might have been confusing her with Beryl Reid.

Choirs and foreign corresponding is not my forte so not surprised I hadn't heard of them.

First episode looks to be next Thursday 13th - Paul Hollywood.

I shall be Sitting Comfortably at 9pm

Let me know what you think of it.  I have it taped.

Spotted this census entry today - no wonder he was a Betchlor  


Name:
Slept in A Barn

Age:
39

Estimated birth year:
abt 1822

Relation:
Betchlor

Gender:
Male

I enjoyed the episode overall and thought he came over well.  How lucky is his mother to have the letters sent by her father to her mother during WWII, eh?  And talking of WWII, there was a bit too much battle stuff for my tastes, but appreciate that the programme makers can't suit all the people all the time.  

Re : Slept in a Barn
Difficult to know whether that was his real name or whether the enumerator was having a bad day.  

STG

Seen up to where he starts getting emotional. I thought he was coming across a bit "play up to the cameras" at the beginning and didn't like him as much "in real life" as I call it.

Bored so far I'm afraid as war stuff just leaves me cold but will carry on watching.

Anyone with photographs/letters is very lucky to have them.

The rest of it was slightly more interesting but it wouldn't be one I'd watch again sorry Paul.

Next episode please

Jane Seymour episode:

We're still stuck in WWII.  

I found some of the info interesting, but I got hung up on a few things.  

1. She started the show by saying she wanted to find out more info on two particular g.aunts and by the miracle of TV, that's exactly what she got.  No more, no less.  

2. She said that her father went to Belson after the war "to search for his cousins" but, if I was paying attention properly, it seemed that, at the time, no-one knew what had happened to them.  So my impression was that it was a story from after the event that was somehow made to fit.

3.  The g.aunt who made it to Switzerland with her husband and children - there was only passing mention of the children and nothing about them after they'd got to Switzerland.  Did they marry? Have children of their own? Are their descendants still there?  In previous series, they'd have organised a meet. But if they didn't want that, at least we could have heard something like "the daughters married and had children of their own/didn't marry/moved to Somewhere Else/etc"

Oh, and on an entirely superficial note, what was she thinking when she bought That Hat?  

STG

Oh no

Will watch it tonight if hubby is willing. He will watch some with me some not, got about 15 episodes of Hairy Hunters to catch up on as well.
Not so keen on the new company they have been filming - Finders is it.

Anyway back to Jane, I will keep a keen eye out for "That Hat"

Started watching and was liking The Hat
until she turned sideways and you could see the crown

So busy watching The Hat the story is taking second place......I may have to rewind!

Finished it now and I think 3) is simply because that made a more dramatic story to end on. If the other sister and her family lived happy ever after then to end with that wouldn't have as much impact.

Didn't much like her, very demanding like "what happens next" like every answer should be handed to her on a silver platter, it was of course but didn't feel anything for her.

I am harsh today

If you look at the Roots thread on this episode, someone has posted a link to a bit of filming that didn't make the final cut - and there she meets a distant relative at her g.uncle's grave in Switzerland.

I didn't take to her much either.  I thought she was too mannered and cautious of what impression she might be making.  Or maybe that's a side-effect of the botox/facelift(s). [meow    ]

And the "what happened next" stuff would have been easier to take if it had been prefixed by "wow, how fantastic that you've been able to find ...." or similar.

Bring on Derek Jacobi !

STG

I read the thread on Roots but didn't watch the clip, had enough of her.

Can't believe someone said they were waiting for the link to Jane Seymour queen to be explained - surely they were joking

Someone said Derek was good but not seen it yet.

Off to Devon tomorrow and still got lots of packing to do.

Was expecting Jacobi to be more of a "lovey" than he actually was, so that was a pleasant surprise.  

Had to smile though when he described his family as "a bit cor blimey" after previously saying that he'd been to Cambridge Uni to read history and showed photos of him cutting what looked like his 21st birthday cake wearing a dinner jacket and bow tie.  

Hope you have a spiffing time in Devon, Tourmie

STG

Just popping in to say that I was largely unmoved by Jerry Hall's episode.  Agree with the RootsChatters who say that the episode would have sat better in the US series than in the UK one.

Bring on Gareth Malone ...

STG

Yes I always thought Jerry was a Texan so was surprised to see her in this series.

Had a lovely week in Devon but spent a lot of time in Cornwall too as close to the border. Did 5 National Trust places and had a glorious day at Tintagel.

There was a completely mad woman at Jamaica Inn
We commented on the weather as it was raining that day and she said "well it's January" then told us the price of a ticket was £90

She didn't do it in a funny way so we were quite taken aback. Could hear her trilling away to herself as we made our way round the museum, was quite pleased to get out of there rain or no rain!

Maybe the mad woman Jamaica Inn was the ghost of Daphne du Maurier  

I thought Gareth Malone was like an excited puppy.        No preliminaries when he met someone, just straight in with  "Hello. What have you got to tell me about my family history?".      

We're off to Zummurzet next week - don't worry, we've packed our wellies!  

STG

I will brace for excited puppy behaviour

Have a great time, hope you don't need to don wellies too often!

You described him perfectly STG but what a lucky pup he was.  Not only did he have a photograph of his great great annnnd a movie of him he had an audio recording as well how fabulous was that.  

I haven't got anything anywhere near as good as that

Having read the reports about the Anne Reid episode, I didn't bother catching-up with it.  It's all very well being a bit tickled about one's wayward ancestors, but not having a thought for those who had to endure such wayward behaviour is not nice.  

Enjoyed Frank Gardner. Loved how direct he was and how interested he was.

Anita Rani episode - Some truly shocking information.  No wonder she cried

Haven't seen Frank yet but agree about Anita it was shocking and I felt for her trying to take in what she was hearing, I would have cried too

Seen Frank and agree it was a really good episode. Loved his humour like on seeing a photo described it as "woman knitting a chicken" and the bit about his ancestor from Henry VIII time - the bad news is he was executed but the good news is he was beheaded not hanged = "Oh Christ"