RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: IgorStrav on Thursday 04 September 14 23:32 BST (UK)
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I really loved this episode.
It followed through just one ancestor, but used lots of local documentation and newspapers, and I think it would be hard to resist Sheridan Smith who followed all the ups and downs with such huge emotion.
I think she got quite good on the banjo in a very short time ;)
Reduced me to tears at points, too.
Great stuff
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I completely agree with you, it was a great show, certainly the best one I have seen. She seems a very grounded person and it was lovely to discover with her about her ancestors life
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Yes me too - the best by far!
I thought she was genuinely interested, and thrilled with her journey - and I could empathise with so many of her emotions.
Cb5
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Mmmmm - Can't say it held my interest unfortunately . As nice as Sheridan was and she certainly became wrapped up and emotional by her GG-Grandfather's story - I felt it was a 20 minute story spun out to an hour. All the banjo playing and "Home Sweet Home" singsong was too much....I nearly switched off at around 9.25 . But I stuck with it.
Maybe I'll be alone with my opinion, maybe everyone else will have loved this episode. But Brian Blessed's is my favourite so far.
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Sort of enjoyed this, but wandered off towards the end and very early on found them on the cencus etc. I much prefered the old format when they didn`t focus on one particular person so much.
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Not one of the best; so far Brian Blessed has been my favourite......possibly because I have a bookbinder in my tree.
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quite good, Sheridan was a bit ott but interesting about the ups and downs of benjamin
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I agree with loobylooayr. It was an OK 'show'.
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I felt it was a 20 minute story spun out to an hour.
That's what I thought too.
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I enjoyed this much more than last week's about Brendan, but I did cringe a bit with the singing.
I still prefer the old format of tracing the family, not just one part.
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I'm in the camp which thought it was simply OK. I prefer the episodes which don't concentrate on just one individual; I like to see the subject's family tree take shape a little bit. It's in danger of moving away from Who Do You Think You Are to I Have An Interesting Ancestor. Just personal preference of course but I like the bigger picture.
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The bits minus the singing were OK, but it really was padded out this week, as with the Tamsin Outhwaite programme. I have to admit I enjoyed last weeks, even though I have no known irish ancestry, I found it far more interesting than the programmes either side of it, but as has been said, different formats appeal to different people. I don't mind the single person programme as it shows ways of researching individuals in more detail, but it doesn't work with the padding. OK you could say it's letting them experience what their ancestors did, but in some ways its just indulging the individual and not that interesting for spectators. ::)
I know people keep banging on about returning to the old format with the paper trail of certificates, census, etc, but that was getting rather stale too. Yes it may help newbies but isn't going to appeal so much to all the seasoned researchers out there who are perhaps now looking for different ways to research and lets face it, many of the programmes are shown time and time again on other digital channels. OK it may give some people the impression its easy to research with all the hand holding, but that has always been shown in the earlier series too. I can still remember Mum saying her brother had asked if we got the same sort of help as the celebrities a few years back and that was when the "old format" was being used. :-\
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All the 'wow's began to get on my nerves. And I couldn't believe that she'd never picked up or tried a banjo before, being as her father played one.
After half an hour I turned over to the drama on BBC1, which was very good.
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I really enjoyed the episode from start to finish, but will admit to being a big fan of Sheridan so she was kind of already sold to me.
Cant understand the person on a previous WDYTYA thread saying they didnt know the name and thought she was a fella?? Seems that person likes the programme but doesnt watch the opening titles.
Really heartwarming episode after the dross of last week.
I agree with those that say the Brian Blessed episode has been the best this current series.
Keep watching folks as the differing opinions are so good to read, would be very boring if we all thought the same. Love this website!!
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I'm in the camp which thought it was simply OK. I prefer the episodes which don't concentrate on just one individual; I like to see the subject's family tree take shape a little bit. It's in danger of moving away from Who Do You Think You Are to I Have An Interesting Ancestor. Just personal preference of course but I like the bigger picture.
Must agree think they spend to much time on one individual ::)
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My favourite is still the Brian Blessed episode and I agree that I like to see more than one individual covered, still great television though (and much better than football) ;)
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Cant understand the person on a previous WDYTYA thread saying they didnt know the name and thought she was a fella?? Seems that person likes the programme but doesnt watch the opening titles.
Forgive me for not watching the opening titles............ :-\ I had never heard of her / him ??? ::)
As I choooooose the progs I watch carefully and they dont include SOAPS of anykind....
Or Celeb...stuff. normally.
My ONLY reason for watching WDYTYA is its historical content.
This one had very little of that in my mind - although she was a lovely happy young lady.. I would have preferred not to listen to the singing and banjo playing..
But then I am me.....
each to their own without criticism would be nice......... :(
XINIA
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Hi, I enjoy them all, some better than others. ;D
Frank.
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She was bound to be a bit OTT considering she's in musical theatre, but I enjoyed the programme. Her enthusiasm was contagious and made me stick with it when my attention began to pall (it was all that banjo playing - almost as bad as Tamzin's ice cream making!). I'm glad I stuck with it, as it got more interesting when we discovered Benjamin wasn't such a paragon after all.
I still preferred Brian Blessed's episode but would place this one second best of the series so far, although I still haven't watched the Mrs Brown one. I have it recorded but haven't got round to watching it yet - would rather sit in a darkened room thinking up exotic names for paint colours than watch Mrs Brown's Boys!! I keep trying to disassociate the two in my mind, but have so far failed.
I thought Sheridan was a delightful lady - don't think we've ever had such a 'touchy feely' subject before. She even involved the researchers by clutching their arms or giving them hugs! And why not....
Jill
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You may find the actor behind the Mrs Brown character to be quite a relief. I won't spoil it for you, but don't be put off by the Mrs Brown character - just a stage persona.
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I enjoyed this very much.Maybe biased as my daughter was at the same dance school as Sheridan so we have known her since she was tiny. She is a smashing girl and her Mum is lovely too.
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I need to watch Sheridan Smith again as I was busy and missed a few bits.
I enjoyed what I saw though - particularly her genuine love for her parents and the no nonsense approach to getting up and singing in the club!
BB is my favourite to date- we watched him again with family yesterday evening. His responses were such a delight.
I did find the Irish ones interesting because of my connections but Jill, I couldn't separate Brendan O' C from Mrs B. It was like watching Agnes dressed up in male clothing :)
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I liked Sheridan (apart from the bursting into tears bits but every celeb that does that has me rolling my eyes).
Brian blessed still my fav so far. And as others have said I did prefer the old format and not how they now seem to specifically try and find an ancester to have something in common with (mine am all miners...I ain't found any coal related similarities between me and them yet lol) x
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Am I right in thinking Sheridan was in the Jonathan Creek series?
I'm still surprised Brian Bessed proved so popular. I have to admit when I saw his name I did think "oh no". Just shows you never can tell.
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Whilst I thought she came across as a lovely person and so very interested in whats she's found out (much like me, I get a little OTT when I discover something new, and often shed a tear), I just didnt find the show that gripping. I dont know why, but when the beginning of the programme shows what she's done career wise, then some driving, then some singing, I just lost interest. Too much padding.
For me, it reminded me of the Sarah Millican episode and felt a bit "lets learn how to do things your ancestor did". Whilst its just my opinion, Im not that interested in a "how to", but I like to see a story uncover, whether its back through the generations, or a more in depth about one person (although I prefer going back, back and back some more).
Im sure the story of the gt gt (?) grandfather was interesting but the padding put me off and I ended up doing some of my own tree.
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I was bored after 10 minutes and kept wondering when we were going to get some family history .Too much time spent on banjo playing.This could have been a programme by itself.So Benjamin was born in the workhouse.No real interest shown here or as to why he was born there,It would have been good to have gone back another generation.
I prefer the old format when celebrities did go back several generations and on both sides.
Like all programmes these days too much padding .
Not a favourite one of mine.
Ringrose
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The name Sheridan is certainly unusual and if you were not familiar with her work there is no way of knowing whether it is likely to be a male or female. I had seen her in something but I can't remember what it was. I am finding that with recent series I don't retain much detail of each episode. That could simply be me getting old, or that I was more interested in those particular celebrities, but the ones I best remember are from earlier series. The fact is though that we are all still watching, so long may WDYTYA continue that's what I say!
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Sheridan was in the Jonathan Creek series
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Found it a Bit Boring .. to much about banjo playing and not enough on the family history ..I Felt sorry for Benjamin though must of been terrible when his family left him ..and to be in that state when the Police found him the the Pub ..
My Favourite is still Brian Blessed though
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The fact is though that we are all still watching ...
More in hope than expectation, in my case ;)
STG
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I think it is about time that we had a fresh family history programme/series that looks at a whole tree and follows one line back in the course of an hour programme. Without the padding but still make it interesting. They could introduce the alternative record sources as well as the usual. Demonstrate the pit falls and still use celebrities if they wish
WDYTYA is losing its appeal after such a long run, I feel we need a fresh approach to the services or a new one rather than keep reinventing the same old style each year.
Regards panda
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Another forum suggested it should have been renamed "Where to buy a banjo".
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. The name Sheridan is certainly unusual and if you were not familiar with her work there is no way of knowing whether it is likely to be a male or female
It is a unisex name, what about Sheridan Morley?
Interesting article here: http://metro.co.uk/2014/09/05/who-do-you-think-you-are-if-you-didnt-love-sheridan-smith-before-you-will-now-4857711/
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I preferred this one to the Irish based ones, at least it did trace the family back through several generations, rather than studying just one individual.
I do think that all the programmes concentrating on one known fairly close ancestor (and it seems often telling the protagonist very little they do not already know) makes it a rather different programme from the format that most of us have enjoyed over the years- i.e.:Take a fairly well-known person, (one you don't know much about the private life of ) + explore their ancestry several generations back - possibly even on more than one line + colour in a bit of the social or personal background - fit it into a 1 hour format.
The Sheridan Smith one was interesting, agreed, a bit too much banjo, but it traced musical(?) links back through the generations, and fleshed out half-known stories, like the Blessed one, in the "good old way".
But I'd hate to lose the programme completely because of us all making these comments. It's not so much a "tired old format", as in need of a good think about who they use as subjects, people from Science, Musical, business, archaeological, natural history, writers (perhaps not) rather than "celebrities" could be more interesting - just listening to comments on last night's story on Paul Nurse on Radio 4 at present, now there would be a story, it occurs to me. It just needs a bit of a re-think on subjects, and a wider view of their ancestry.....
Perhaps Rootschat should send in a list of "possibles" to stimulate the thinking of the programme makers?
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I really enjoyed this episode. I've always liked Sheridan Smith. Lovely girl. I remember seeing her singing with her family on TV in the past. She's a good singer too and now can add a bit of banjo playing. I think it would have been difficult to get Sheridan to uncover all the details about her ancestor on her own. It was an interesting ancestor well worth covering. There were a few twists to his story so it wasn't all sweetness and light. Tears are always a bit embarrassing but it's only natural to react to events involving your ancestors.
Blue
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In the context of how the series seems to be formatted, I liked this one. She came across very well and enthusiastic. Certainly prefered it to Brian Blessed (too much booming voice repeating everything he was told) and certainly better than Julie Walters (almost dozed off) and "Mrs,Brown" (despite liking his show).
However, that is all relative. I don't like the current format they have lapsed in to - of finding one relative, not too far back, and focusing 100% on them. Usually telling the celeb stuff they already knew/had a idea about. Then padding by teaching them to do something their rellie did.
Almost seems like lazy genealogy :(
Watching in hope now more than expectation. Getting to the stage I prefer to watch the repeats for the umpteenth time on digital than one of these brand new episodes.
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I too enjoyed this episode.
I liked the fact that they showed just how much you can find when concentrating on one person.
I too have music hall/actors in my family, and it was interesting to see just how much was found out.
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Mmmmm - Can't say it held my interest unfortunately . As nice as Sheridan was and she certainly became wrapped up and emotional by her GG-Grandfather's story - I felt it was a 20 minute story spun out to an hour. All the banjo playing and "Home Sweet Home" singsong was too much....I nearly switched off at around 9.25 . But I stuck with it.
Maybe I'll be alone with my opinion, maybe everyone else will have loved this episode. But Brian Blessed's is my favourite so far.
Just adding to my original post-
Early in the programme it was mentioned that Sheridan's Great-great Grandfather had been born in a workhouse. I would have wanted to know why? This info was just skimmed over and there was no attempt (that we know of) to research his parents/ where they were on Censuses etc.
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Mmmmm - Can't say it held my interest unfortunately . As nice as Sheridan was and she certainly became wrapped up and emotional by her GG-Grandfather's story - I felt it was a 20 minute story spun out to an hour. All the banjo playing and "Home Sweet Home" singsong was too much....I nearly switched off at around 9.25 . But I stuck with it.
Maybe I'll be alone with my opinion, maybe everyone else will have loved this episode. But Brian Blessed's is my favourite so far.
Just adding to my original post-
Early in the programme it was mentioned that Sheridan's Great-great Grandfather had been born in a workhouse. I would have wanted to know why? This info was just skimmed over and there was no attempt (that we know of) to research his parents/ where they were on Censuses etc.
I think it said the parents were with him in the Workhouse.
Blue
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I noticed on the 1891 that Benjamin and his two daughters were described as visitors was there any real evidence for his wife having left him?
Could he and the girls not simply have been away from home performing?
Could have done without Brendon O'Carroll's episode, bit too political for me. Otherwise an interesting series.
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I realise his parents were with him Blue.
He was born in the workhouse so I suppose his mother would have to be there ;D.
What I meant but possibly didn't explain properly was - that I would have preferred the show had concentrated on fleshing out the family's history. i.e. who his parents were, how they came to be in a workhouse, where they went from the workhouse etc. Instead we got a lot of banjo lessons, singing and looking at the same photo on numerous occasions.
Maybe I'm being picky :P but would agree with an earlier poster - that episode was more like I've got an Interesting Ancestor and I'm going to learn his trade. (Same as Tamsin's episode)
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I enjoyed this programme, partly because of Sheridan's personality - her enthusiasm for what she was discovering seemed unforced, and she didn't keep jumping to conclusions out loud. I also liked the return to her parents with all the information (for all that it was padding to bring the programme to full length.)
The one point that annoyed me was when the researcher said that Benjamin's family were 'in the workhouse' at the time of his birth - where was the proof? Workhouse records? Am I wrong in thinking that it was possible for women to be delivered in the workhouse hospital without the whole family being there? They do seem to have moved around rather a lot from the censuses/children's births, mostly in the Notts/Lincs/Yorks area, although with one child born London.
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When her 2nd cousin showed her the 1901 census with Benjamin and his 2 daughters on one census and his wife on another with the other 2 children, I thought it looked as though his wife had re-married and was now Mrs Brown. Did anyone else notice that?
Modified - Just looked on BBC iplayer and sure enough in 1901 Mrs Sarah Jane Doubleday is now Mrs Jane Brown living in Smethwick, Birmingham with her husband John J Brown. William the g.grandfather of the two women was working as a machine minder.
Interestingly, looking on marriages, it turns out John Brown and Sarah Jane didn't actually marry until 1908.