Who Do You Think You Are?

Doctor Who and Broadchurch actor Jodie Whittaker investigates her family history. On her dad’s side, she looks into a romantic story she has been told about how her beloved grandmother Greta came to be given the middle name Verdun - also the name of a First World War battle fought shortly before Greta was born. The truth Jodie uncovers about Greta’s eldest brother’s sacrifice in that war is far more poignant than the family myth. On her mum’s side, Jodie gets to the bottom of how her great-great-grandfather worked his way up from child labourer in a Yorkshire coal mine to mine owner, and how his sons kept the family’s mines open during the biggest miners’ strikes of the 1920s.

Actor, comedian, talent show judge and children’s author David Walliams delves into his family history. First, he learns of his paternal great-grandfather’s prolonged and traumatic experiences on the battlefields of the First World War. The damage to his mental health condemned him to a lifetime in what was then known as a lunatic asylum. On his mother’s side, David uncovers the story of his great-great-grandfather, who was blind as the result of invasive eye surgery. David is amazed to find out that his ancestor became an entertainer - first a street musician and then a travelling showman, running fairground attractions with the help of his wife and children.

Actor and writer Ruth Jones - Nessa from Gavin and Stacey - investigates her Welsh family’s history. On her mum’s side, she discovers that her great-great-great-grandfather was a mariner who rose to the rank of captain in the domestic coastal trade. His son surpassed his father by carrying Welsh coal across the world. On Ruth’s dad’s side, she looks into the career of the grandfather she never met. Henry Richard Jones was a leading light in the Medical Aid Societies of south Wales, which provided a model for the National Health Service in 1948.

Silent Witness actor Liz Carr gets forensic about her family history. She investigates a rumour that an ancestor was involved in some sort of assault, discovering that her paternal great-great-great-grandfather was involved in the attempted murder of a prominent landlord in rural Northern Ireland in the 1850s. On her mother's side, she learns about her grandfather, who died when her mother was just two. Orphaned as a child, John Joseph Hughes took part in the Royal Navy's Northern Patrol during the First World War, then joined the merchant navy and travelled the world.