Who do you think you are?

GC has never been a favourite of mine but after the good reviews here, I’ll certainly watch!
Thank you all for the other suggestion too, Josh Widdicombe, Judi Dench and Olly Murs.

I thought Gemma Collins was very good. She asked questions and shared information. She's gone up a few levels in my book. I always thought her rather brash but she wasn't with regard to this.

Katek

Jerry Springer is one to watch - older episode but very powerful. I second Josh Widdicombe and Judi Dench, but Alexander Armstrong and Rob Rinder episodes are well worth watching as well.

I mentioned JW and JD as the episodes are still on iPlayer. My favourite I think) was Jeremy Paxman, but I don't think it's available any more. One side of his family were solidly middle class and wealthy, and he was very comfortable with that. When he saw his origins on another side of the family, however, he was moved to tears.

I have watched the programme since it started, and no longer care who's on it. Sometimes people who are interesting in themselves have rather pedestrian ancestors, and people I've never heard of or who I don't particularly like have fascinating stories - it's very unpredictable.

TheWeirdo

I simply can't stand her so I'd never watch anything with her in it!

Hear, hear The Weirdo, me neither. I was recently berated by some contributors on this site for saying as much; when she made an appearance on BBC's 'Who do you think you are' Why was she even given airtime for goodness sake! A terrible role-model for the younger women of today,

Trudy1925

GC has never been a favourite of mine but after the good reviews here, I’ll certainly watch!
Thank you all for the other suggestion too, Josh Widdicombe, Judi Dench and Olly Murs.

There is a vast difference in terms of celebrity between the these 3 real, bona-fide celebrities, ie Dame Judy Dench, ex-politician Ann Widdecombe & fabulous singer Ollie Murs in comparison to the reality "star" medocity of Gemma Collins. 😕

That's hardly the point though. The programme is about the ancestors, not the celebrities. Also, much depends on what the researchers can find out. The most fascinating person could have a relatively tame history, and someone boring could come from a line of interesting people.

The programme di

Oops! The programme discovered that Danny Dyer is related to two English kings and Thomas Cromwell

Is she the fowl mouthed one?

I don't think his was as good as some of the other Big Name Relatives ones (I don't want to spoil them for those who haven't seen them). There is always a certain amount of acting going on, but DD was way over the top, I think.

I've remembered, Boris Johnson's was good too - obviously he overacted too - sounded like a character from the Beano if memory serves- all 'super' and 'golly', but it was a very interesting episode. I doubt it's available though.

Yes some of them are fascinating.

Doodledog

That's hardly the point though. The programme is about the ancestors, not the celebrities. Also, much depends on what the researchers can find out. The most fascinating person could have a relatively tame history, and someone boring could come from a line of interesting people.

I sort of understand your point but it is the fact that Gemma Collins & her ilk even fall into the hallowed category of celebrity🤔
Two things come to mind.
1. Stop making stupid people famous.
2. Why is modern life so mediocre. 🤔

Quite unkind to call someone you don't know stupid.

Ilovedogs22

Doodledog

That's hardly the point though. The programme is about the ancestors, not the celebrities. Also, much depends on what the researchers can find out. The most fascinating person could have a relatively tame history, and someone boring could come from a line of interesting people.

I sort of understand your point but it is the fact that Gemma Collins & her ilk even fall into the hallowed category of celebrity🤔
Two things come to mind.
1. Stop making stupid people famous.
2. Why is modern life so mediocre. 🤔

Oof!

I'm not a particular fan of GC, but neither am I in her target audience. There is room for all sorts of people in the hall of fame, surely? From what we found out on WDYTYA, she has made more of a success of her life than could have been expected given her start in life - nothing mediocre about it, as far as I can see.

There's a difference between a celebrity and a star.

Dame Judi Dench is a star.
And, according to many, a National Treasure.

Probably many very famous stars don't particularly want to appear on WDYTYA.
One very famous star was researched years ago but the programme never aired even though it would have been very interesting. Perhaps the star changed their mind, who knows.

Dame Judy’s programme was really excellent, the Shakespeare connections particularly. I like the way they make history real by putting the ancestor stories into a wider context. I would guess there are probably some people for whom they don’t find out anything very interesting though, that may be why some don’t air.

I think Michael Parkinson said he was too dull for the programme

I would say she's far from stupid, considering what she's worth.
That seems to be the yardstick by which a lot of people judge.

Doodledog

Katek

Jerry Springer is one to watch - older episode but very powerful. I second Josh Widdicombe and Judi Dench, but Alexander Armstrong and Rob Rinder episodes are well worth watching as well.

I mentioned JW and JD as the episodes are still on iPlayer. My favourite I think) was Jeremy Paxman, but I don't think it's available any more. One side of his family were solidly middle class and wealthy, and he was very comfortable with that. When he saw his origins on another side of the family, however, he was moved to tears.

I have watched the programme since it started, and no longer care who's on it. Sometimes people who are interesting in themselves have rather pedestrian ancestors, and people I've never heard of or who I don't particularly like have fascinating stories - it's very unpredictable.

Yes. I remember that one vividly. Paxman cries . I used to love WDYTYA all the time but got out of the habit of watching it. Must do some catching up. Josh’s one was particularly good wasn’t it.

Gemma Collins came across well. She was keen to help her mum, did not overact at “revelations” and was very natural. I think perhaps much of what has gone before was whipped up by the media. Gemma certainly presented as warmer, more mature and sincere than I expected. Very enjoyable and a salutary reminder that not everyone has a good start in life.

I had never heard of Gemma Colins before the programme started. I was put off at first by her manners etc. but as things went on I was really interested and impressed in her understanding. I feel that I have a group of prejudices about celebrities that I should review.

Farmor15

I think the programme about Gemma Collins worked best if, like me, you had never heard of her before. When it started, and she was introduced, I nearly switched off, as I was immediately prejudiced by her overly "made up" appearance. However, I quickly got drawn into the story and also noticed in some parts, she was wearing little or no make up and looked quite ordinary. It impressed me that she was willing to appear on-screen without make up!

The main thing was that the story was fascinating - even if she had just been a random person - not any kind of "celebrity".

Just how I feel. 👏👏

Ilovedogs22

Doodledog

That's hardly the point though. The programme is about the ancestors, not the celebrities. Also, much depends on what the researchers can find out. The most fascinating person could have a relatively tame history, and someone boring could come from a line of interesting people.

I sort of understand your point but it is the fact that Gemma Collins & her ilk even fall into the hallowed category of celebrity🤔
Two things come to mind.
1. Stop making stupid people famous.
2. Why is modern life so mediocre. 🤔

She came across as very bright and engaging. She was interested in the places she visited, got on well with all the “experts” and asked relevant questions.

The thing is nowadays many girls plaster themselves in makeup, false eyelashes and trout pouts. Personally I think they look daft but we are all older ladies and not used to big, black eyebrows etc. I’ve seen graduation photos of girls looking like this, many nurses and teachers now favour this “look”.

We recently met with a young solicitor who looked like this and was wearing a very mini skirt, a low cut top and Doc Martin boots. However, she really knew her stuff and spoke beautifully.

It just goes to show you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. GC, for me, was a really interesting person.

And she is far from stupid!!

I enjoyed the programme about Gemma's family.

She does actually keep chickens I believe 🐔🐔🐔

😂😂😂