Who Do You Think You Are? (IE)

Adrian Dunbar (3x6)

: 14, 2018

Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar traces his roots, including a Singapore born grandfather who was a ceremonial drummer boy for Queen Victoria and an uncle who fought with Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War. Adrian’s paternal family history reveals a long line of Catholic tradespeople who found themselves ghettoised in the predominantly Protestant town of Portadown when partition was introduced in 1921. Adrian himself moved from Enniskillen to Portadown when he was just 10 years old as the Troubles broke out. He visits the town and reflects on the parallels between his own life and that of his ancestors. On his mother Pauline’s side, there’s a deep-rooted military angle, tied to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers regiment in Enniskillen, which sees Adrian’s grandfather Walter born in Singapore, enlisting as a young boy and acting as the ceremonial drummer boy for Queen Victoria on her visit to Ireland in 1900. With so many of his family members fighting for the British over the generations, Adrian reflects on how times were different when they enlisted and how this would never have been a consideration for him or his brothers. The religious theme continues through the programme into Europe – Adrian’s Uncle Charles enlisted with the Irish Brigade under Blueshirt Eoin O’Duffy to fight with Franco against ‘godless’ communism during the Spanish Civil War. Adrian traces his journey to the battlefield in Spain where he learns about how his uncle and the other volunteers had no idea what they were letting themselves in for and how the atrocities they witnessed stayed with them for a long time.