The Best Episodes of Who Do You Think You Are?

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9.5/10(37 votes)
#1 - Rory Bremner
S6:E12/2/2009
In Holland and Germany, Rory Bremner delves into the wartime experiences of the father he didn't know very well.
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9.5/10(40 votes)
#2 - John Simpson
S10:E109/25/2013
Veteran BBC news reporter and world affairs editor John Simpson always thought his great grandfather was Samuel F Cody, famous for being the first person to fly in Britain and a Wild West entertainer. It was only later that John discovered that his great grandmother, Lela King, had run off with Cody, taking her children with her. John follows the trail of his adventurous great grandmother and her life with Cody, the cowboy turned aviator. He also investigates what happened to the husband Lela left behind, John's real great grandfather, and makes a shocking discovery.
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9.5/10(43 votes)
#3 - Mary Berry
S11:E69/11/2014
Bake Off star Mary Berry, still going strong at 79, believes she inherits her energy and drive from her father and sets off on a journey to find out more about his family. Along the way she discovers illegitimacy, bankruptcy, and even more astonishingly, a baker.
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9.4/10(42 votes)
#4 - Alistair McGowan
S4:E510/4/2007
Alistair McGowan explores his heritage from his father's side, investigating what 'Anglo-Indian' means by a journey to India.
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9.4/10(44 votes)
#5 - Marianne Faithfull
S10:E99/18/2013
Singer and '60s pop icon Marianne Faithfull had a difficult relationship with her mother, Eva. In this film Marianne investigates Eva's earlier life, as a dancer in 1920s Berlin- the era immortalised in the film Cabaret. Marianne also discovers her half-Jewish mother's precarious existence in Vienna during World War Two and investigates whether there is any truth in the rumour that the family was involved with the Austrian Resistance.
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9.4/10(47 votes)
#6 - Liz Bonnin
S13:E312/8/2016
Wildlife presenter Liz Bonnin describes herself as 'a mongrel' - the result of her parents' lineages on the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Martinique. In Trinidad, she goes in search of the first of her maternal ancestors to arrive on the island from India. Liz then heads to Martinique where her paternal ancestors are said to have owned plantation - and slaves. What she discovers is more complicated than she could have ever imagined.
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9.3/10(46 votes)
#7 - Moira Stuart
S1:E611/16/2004
Moira Stuart's family tree exploration takes from the Highlands of Scotland to the West Indies.
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9.3/10(48 votes)
#8 - Patsy Kensit
S5:E18/14/2008
Patsy's late father was a villain. Jimmy Kensit was deeply involved with the most notorious gangsters of 1960s London: the Krays and the Richardsons. Reggie Kray was even godfather to Patsy's brother. Apprehensively, Patsy embarked on an investigation into her father's murky past, to understand the roots of his criminality and to discover how far back 'the family trade' goes. Patsy met up with a criminologist who had unearthed a copy of her father’s criminal record, revealing the true extent of his crimes. She was then shocked to uncover documents in the National Archives that show her grandfather was also a prolific criminal. After more research, Patsy was at last relieved to discover that her great-grandfather, though impoverished, was an honest walking stick maker. Tracing her roots even further back, an amazing document in Goldsmith's Hall revealed how the Kensit family, once affluent artisans, first fell into terrible poverty. Ultimately Patsy made the emotional discovery that rather than descending from a long line of villains, one of her ancestors was a remarkable vicar who dedicated his life to helping the poor.
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9.3/10(39 votes)
#9 - Fiona Bruce
S6:E22/9/2009
Fiona Bruce discovers the sad truth behind her great-grandfather's mysterious death, and returns to her family's ancestral home.
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9.3/10(49 votes)
#10 - Rupert Everett
S7:E27/26/2010
Rupert Everett’s varied acting career has involved starring in Hollywood films as diverse as My Best Friend’s Wedding, Shrek 2 and The Importance of Being Earnest. Rupert has a rigidly conservative background, and feels that much of his own life has been a reaction against it. Following the recent death of his father six months ago, he wants to investigate the paternal side of his family.
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9.3/10(44 votes)
#11 - Nigel Havers
S10:E27/31/2013
Nigel Havers takes a look at his mother's line and travels to Cornwall to learn about a tale of illegitimacy worthy of a period drama. On his father's side, he ends up in Colchester where he learns a tale of the Victorian equivalent of an Essex taxi driver made good, who ends up losing everything though.
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9.3/10(87 votes)
#12 - Charles Dance
S14:E17/6/2017
Actor Charles Dance has made his name playing aristocrats, including Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones. But the upstairs world Charles inhabits on screen is nothing like his own background as his mum was an under house parlour maid. Charles wants to know if he comes from a long line of servants or if he can uncover some grander origins. He is also determined to learn about his dad, who died when Charles was four. Charles knows hardly anything about him, not even when he was born. Charles's search for information takes him to the other side of the world to meet close relatives he never knew he had.
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9.2/10(51 votes)
#13 - Ian Hislop
S1:E511/9/2004
Ian finds out more about the part his grandfathers played in the wars of the 20th Century.
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9.2/10(53 votes)
#14 - David Suchet
S5:E69/17/2008
Confusion reigns in David Suchet's family history. Was his father's father German, Russian or Estonian? Was his name Suchedowitz, Suchet or Shoket? David’s mother's family is equally confusing. Was her grandfather really a French photographer? And why did another ancestor's ship sink off Norfolk? David travels across Europe hoping to find some answers.
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9.2/10(38 votes)
#15 - Kevin Whately
S6:E53/2/2009
Actor Kevin Whately discovers that his ancestors were amongst the richest and most powerful men of the 17th century.
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9.2/10(58 votes)
#16 - Ruby Wax
S14:E1010/4/2017
Ruby Wax's Jewish parents fled Vienna and the Nazis for America in 1938. 'They took the war with them and brought it to our kitchen,' says the comedian and mental-health campaigner at the start of this remarkable episode. They raised their only daughter in a dramatically dysfunctional household - Ruby's father was volatile and her mother 'hysterical... screaming in the street.' Ruby wonders if her own mental illness had its origins in her upbringing and the trauma her parents went through, or whether it is in her family's genes. Ruby journeys to central Europe, where she learns about her parents' flight and the distressing fate of family who remained in Vienna during the war, and she makes a startling discovery about her great-aunt and great-grandmother, which is both harrowing and surprisingly affirming.
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9.1/10(57 votes)
#17 - John Hurt
S4:E29/13/2007
John looks into his great grandmother's parentage.
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9.1/10(38 votes)
#18 - Kate Humble
S6:E87/29/2009
TV presenter Kate Humble knows little about her family history. What she does know is that her paternal grandfather was a test pilot, and she believes her maternal grandfather ended up in Colditz. On the trail of her grandfather Bill Humble, who was a test pilot during the Second World War, Kate visits the RAF Museum. She is astonished to discover what a legend Bill was in flying circles, and is amazed to see his daredevil flying for herself in archive film held there.
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9.1/10(44 votes)
#19 - Jason Donovan
S7:E78/30/2010
Jason comes from showbiz parents who divorced when he was five. His British born father won custody and brought him up alone, but its Jason's mother's family line that holds the key to Jason's Australian heritage - up to now a complete mystery to him.
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9.1/10(47 votes)
#20 - Annie Lennox
S9:E49/5/2012
Eurythmics singer and political activist Annie Lennox, whose grandmother's father died when she was only three, knows little about this branch of the family. Annie's episode uncovers an extraordinarily dark tale of tangled family relationships blighted by illegitimacy and poverty. On her journey, Annie also discovers the humiliation her unmarried great, great grandmother suffered before the Scottish church.
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9.1/10(50 votes)
#21 - Minnie Driver
S10:E38/7/2013
Hollywood actress Minnie Driver is on a mission to find out more about her late father, Ronnie, and his family's background. Minnie's parents were not married, and Minnie only discovered when she was older that her father had a wife and another family all the time Minnie's parents were together. Minnie knows her father was awarded a medal for his role in the battle of Heligoland Bight during World War Two, but is shocked to discover that he apparently threw it away. She sets out to investigate why her father would relinquish such an honour. The trail leads Minnie to relatives she never knew existed, and she discovers a kindred spirit in the family.
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9.1/10(54 votes)
#22 - Derek Jacobi
S12:E38/27/2015
Actor Derek Jacobi discovers that he is descended from a Huguenot fleeing persecution.
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9.1/10(72 votes)
#23 - Josh Widdicombe
S18:E110/12/2021
Comedian Josh Widdicombe embarks on a rollercoaster ride through his extraordinary family history. After a less than promising start with an ancestor who was cut out of the family fortune, Josh is delighted to discover a courtier with very personal access to King Charles I. From there it’s a dizzying journey back to Elizabethan and Tudor nobility by way of a royal love triangle, through an incredible ancestral line that prompts Josh to ask the expert he meets, 'Be honest. As a historian, are you really jealous?' English
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9.1/10(87 votes)
#24 - Dame Judi Dench
S18:E210/19/2021
Shakespearean actor, movie star and national treasure Dame Judi Dench's journey begins with her father Reginald Dench, who never spoke of his experiences during the First World War, as she tries to find out how he won his gallantry medals. Judi’s investigations then take a truly epic turn, leading her to 16th-century Denmark and nobility. Judi also discovers, to her delight, some incredible Shakespearean links.
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9.0/10(53 votes)
#25 - Jeremy Paxman
S2:E11/11/2006
The stern host of BBC2's Newsnight searches for his roots.
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