Who do you think you are Ed Balls

Exactly mokryna- the programme had to tell the truth, the grim reality. They can't pick and choose only the nice bits- history does not work like that.

I felt sorry for him as he had no idea that what he would find would be so traumatic- he is such a nice guy and so 'human'.

I enjoyed the Ed Balls WDYTYA program last night. You can’t chose your ancestors.

It was very different from almost every other WDYTYA, and I've watched most. A little gravitas compared with some of the fluffier ones there have been.

Same here ayse but mine were in Essex. I always try to look behind the celebrity if it’s someone I don’t like, as they’re only on the programme because the researchers have found something interesting.

I enjoyed Ed Balls last night. Some of my ancestors were agricultural labourers in Suffolk at the same time. WDYTYA is one of my favourites even if I’m not too keen on the celebrity.

Germanshepherdsmum

No. I read a really interesting piece about Mark and his father in last Sunday’s Sunday Times magazine. It mentioned the programme, which I hope will be repeated in England. Always enjoy watching him. An unconventional background!

It was a very weird program, GSM, but interesting, and it made us laugh!

Sorry, I have derailed the thread.

When I found one of my g g grandmothers had registered the
deaths of two small grandchildren in the same week , I cried.

No. I read a really interesting piece about Mark and his father in last Sunday’s Sunday Times magazine. It mentioned the programme, which I hope will be repeated in England. Always enjoy watching him. An unconventional background!

Bit off topic, but did anyone see Mark Bonnar (Duncan in Shetland) on BBC Scotland last night going back to the town where he lived when he was young? He was looking at the house where he grew up and said "Is this going to be one of those programs with famous people crying in libraries?"

If you watch it regularly, there are uncomfortable points in nearly every programme, the vast majority of people have skeletons in their ancestral closets. I enjoyed it, it brings history to life when you can put people’s ancestors into real life situations - and I thought he handled both the good and bad pretty well.

Very good programme with in-depth research which once again provided evidence of why we should be grateful at how much life in the UK has changed.

The revelations that Ed had to deal with on camera were pretty awful.

I like Ed Balls, but I did find this programme quite depressing. I wasn’t expecting that. Interesting, though.

One if mine got transportation for being caught with a rabbit. He had 6 children and unemployed. He was sent to Australia for 7 years, and never had enough money to afford to return to his family. He never remarried and the obituary after his death described a kind chap who was a pillar in the community always ready to help.

Evil times.

You’ve piqued my interest! I may watch it on catch up later now. I don’t usually bother. Some of the ‘luvvies’ seemed to continue ‘acting’ when disclosures were made and I found it irritating.

I thought it was very good. Times were different then and I thought the story of the Ag Lab was good too.

One of my Gx?grandfathers got six months in prison for receiving part of a sheep, probably he was just trying to feed his family.
Another was a naval surgeon, he has a ward named after him at a hospital in England.

We can't choose our ancestors.

I presume they researched a lot of his ancestors but chose the most interesting ones.

Yes he did have a rather pervy ancestor too but I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it yet.

It’s not grim, it just shows how bad agricultural workers’ conditions and the penal system were many years ago. Something we all know surely, and don’t we owe it to our ancestors to acknowledge their hardships rather than put our fingers in our ears? I enjoyed the programme, always enjoy seeing Ed.

It was obvious he had no idea what was coming, he wasn't quite sure how to react to some of it. Worth a watch I thought.

I guess we're talking about the ancestor who was a naval medic?

I didn't find it too grim, it was just a reflection of the times and Ed's response to it was spot on, I thought.

I'm trying to not give anything away for people who haven't seen it yet!

I've taped this to watch this evening. I might not watch it now if it's too grim. I'll do a bit of research first. Thanks for the tip off.

I've only watched this once (Judi Dench) but in that case they went back to the 16th century and the number of possible ancestors to look at if you go back that far is easily in the 10s of thousands. Some are going to be great and others grim.