Who Do You Think You Are?

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For other uses, see Who Do You Think You Are? (disambiguation).
Who Do You Think You Are?
Whodoyouthinkyouarelogo.JPG
Genre Documentary
Narrated by David Morrissey
Mark Strong
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of episodes 51
(by 19 August 2009)
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel BBC Two (Series 1-2)
BBC One (Series 3-)
Original run 12 October 2004 – present
External links
Official website

Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. Made by Wall to Wall, in each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Seven series have been broadcast, the most recent of which aired in July and August 2009.[1] The show regularly attracts an audience of more than 6 million viewers[2].

Contents

[edit] Episodes

Series One and Two were broadcast on BBC Two, and the first was the channel's highest-rating programme of 2004. This led to episodes being shown on BBC One from the third series onwards. The narrator is Mark Strong, who took over from David Morrissey after the first series, which was nominated for "Best Factual Series or Strand" in the 2005 BAFTAs.

In the first series, the last ten minutes of each episode featured presenter Adrian Chiles and genealogical researcher Nick Barratt giving tips on tracing a family tree. In 2007, a special episode was broadcast in conjunction with the BBC's "Family Wanted" campaign featuring Nicky Campbell, who was adopted a few days after he was born.[3]

The theme tune was composed by Mark Sayer-Wade, who also provides the background music for each episode.

The episode featuring Boris Johnson was filmed and set to air in late 2007, but was pulled because at the time of transmission, Johnson was getting ready to run in the London Mayoral election, as so the episode was moved to the following series in 2008. [4]

[edit] Series One (2004)

  1. Bill Oddie (12 October 2004)
  2. Amanda Redman (19 October 2004)
  3. Sue Johnston (26 October 2004)
  4. Jeremy Clarkson (2 November 2004)
  5. Ian Hislop (9 November 2004)
  6. Moira Stuart (16 November 2004)
  7. David Baddiel (23 November 2004)
  8. Lesley Garrett (30 November 2004)
  9. Meera Syal (7 December 2004)
  10. Vic Reeves (14 December 2004)

[edit] Series Two (2006)

  1. Jeremy Paxman (11 January 2006)
  2. Sheila Hancock (18 January 2006)
  3. Stephen Fry (25 January 2006)
  4. Julian Clary (1 February 2006)
  5. Jane Horrocks (8 February 2006)
  6. Gurinder Chadha (15 February 2006)

[edit] Series Three (2006)

  1. Barbara Windsor (6 September 2006)
  2. Robert Lindsay (13 September 2006)
  3. Colin Jackson (20 September 2006)
  4. David Tennant (27 September 2006)
  5. David Dickinson (4 October 2006)
  6. Nigella Lawson (11 October 2006)
  7. Jeremy Irons (18 October 2006)
  8. Julia Sawalha (25 October 2006)

[edit] Adoption Special (2007)

  1. Nicky Campbell (11 July 2007)

[edit] Series Four (2007)

  1. Natasha Kaplinsky (6 September 2007)
  2. John Hurt (13 September 2007)
  3. Griff Rhys Jones (20 September 2007)
  4. Carol Vorderman (27 September 2007)
  5. Alistair McGowan (4 October 2007)
  6. Graham Norton (11 October 2007)
  7. Sir Matthew Pinsent (18 October 2007)

[edit] Series Five (2008)

  1. Patsy Kensit (13 August 2008)
  2. Boris Johnson (20 August 2008)
  3. Jerry Springer (27 August 2008)
  4. Esther Rantzen (3 September 2008)
  5. Ainsley Harriott (10 September 2008)
  6. David Suchet (17 September 2008)
  7. Jodie Kidd (24 September 2008)
  8. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (29 September 2008)

[edit] Series Six (2009)

  1. Rory Bremner (2 February 2009)
  2. Fiona Bruce (9 February 2009)
  3. Rick Stein (16 February 2009)
  4. Zoë Wanamaker (23 February 2009)
  5. Kevin Whately (2 March 2009)

[edit] Series Seven (2009)

  1. Davina McCall (15 July 2009)
  2. Chris Moyles (22 July 2009)
  3. Kate Humble (29 July 2009)
  4. David Mitchell (5 August 2009)
  5. Kim Cattrall (12 August 2009)
  6. Martin Freeman (19 August 2009)

[edit] Series Eight (2010)

The show has been renewed for 2010 for an unspecified number of episodes. Possible subjects include Konnie Huq,[5] and David Schwimmer[6] who have filmed episodes. Also thought to be appearing is former Doctor Who star Freema Agyeman who has been seen with a film crew in Ghana.[citation needed]

[edit] Abandoned episodes

The show's producers generally examine 12 celebrities in their planning for a series. After research this is then cut down to 6 by eliminating those whose background is either uninteresting or too close to themes which have already been discussed in past episodes. Michael Parkinson has said that a planned episode about his ancestors was discontinued after six weeks when genealogists failed to find anything interesting[7].

[edit] Media releases

The first four series of Who Do You Think You Are? are available on DVD in the UK (Region 2).

In October 2007, BBC Magazines began issuing Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, a monthly publication that includes material from the TV series.

The series 1-4 box set of Who Do You Think You Are is available now, distributed by Acorn Media UK.

Season Date Released # Of Episodes # Of Discs Special Features
The Complete 1st Series TBA 10 3 None
The Complete 2nd Series TBA 6 2 None
The Complete 3rd Series Janury 12, 2009 8 3 None
The Complete 4th Series August 3, 2009 7 3 None
The Complete 5th Series 2010 8 TBA TBA

[edit] Other countries

In September 2007, a Canadian version comprising 13 episodes began airing on CBC.

An Australian version aired on SBS in January 2008, after six episodes of the BBC version had been shown; the BBC programmes were those featuring Stephen Fry, Bill Oddie, Julia Sawalha, Jeremy Clarkson, Gurinder Chadha and Nigella Lawson.

NBC has also ordered an American adaptation of the show to be produced.[8]

Ireland's national broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann, has aired two seasons of Irish version of Who Do You Think You Are?[1] in autumn 2008 and autumn 2009. The Irish version has included internationally recognised names such as Ardal O'Hanlon, Dana, Rosanna Davison and Dermot Gavin. The British version of the show already airs on TG4 in Ireland.[9]

Sveriges television, the Swedish public service broadcasting network aired a Swedish version called "Vem tror du att du är?" in Spring 2009. Later that spring, in May and June, they aired the BBC episodes featuring Stephen Fry, Jeremy Irons, Nigella Lawson, John Hurt and Jane Horrocks.

Also on 31 May 2009, South African station SABC2 premiered its version, split up into two parts, featuring local personalities. [10]

[edit] Similar programmes

BBC Wales has a similar series called Coming Home, which is made by Yellow Duck Productions and features celebrities with a Welsh background.[11][12] In 2007, Wall to Wall developed You Don't Know You're Born for ITV1. The series saw various celebrities taking on their ancestors' jobs.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.bbcwhodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/
  2. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a165437/64-million-uncover-davinas-family-history.html
  3. ^ "Who Do You Think You Are? with Nicky Campbell". Who Do You Think You Are?. BBC. BBC Two. 11 July 2007.
  4. ^ Meet Sir Alan Sugar, the Del Boy business tsar, who faces storm over Apprentice 'conflict' Daily Mail, 10 June 2009
  5. ^ "Konnie Huq: Land ahoy! Huq ready to jump 'Blue Peter' ship". The Independent. 21 January 2008. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/konnie-huq-land-ahoy-huq-ready-to-jump-blue-peter-ship-771519.html. 
  6. ^ "David Schwimmer's family tree". 7 January 2009. http://news.stv.tv/entertainment/68545-david-schwimmers-family-tree/. Retrieved 12 January 2009. 
  7. ^ Michael Parkinson: Who do you think you are? The Guardian
  8. ^ Hibberd, James (11 March 2008). "NBC orders celeb genealogy series". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ib8b5060e33b9624e43b1e8bb77126058. 
  9. ^ RTÉ - New Season 08 | 09
  10. ^ Who Do You Think You Are? (SA)
  11. ^ "Coming Home, Coming Soon". BBC. 11 July 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/familyhistory/pages/cominghome.shtml. 
  12. ^ "Coming Home Coming Soon". BBC. 28 January 2008. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/family_history/pages/cominghome.shtml. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Who Do You Think You Are? genealogy documentary series
Originally by Wall to Wall for the BBC
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Do_You_Think_You_Are%3F"
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