"
Diana-:
I think I already know the answer to this, but I wonder if you will give us any clues as to who will appear in the next series?
Also, you usually tell us who your favourite celebrities were after the series finishes. Who was your favourite this time? Who was the best to work with? Which story you enjoyed researching the most? Any difficulties with any of the research? (This is something I'm sure we would all like to know as we all come across little, and big, brick walls in our own research)"
Ruskie you are right - no clues allowed
but suffice to say we have got another six great and enthusiastic contenders on board for Series 5. Two episodes have already been shot, one is one the road at the moment and the other three in pre-production.
As mentioned previously, on this series I researched Kerry O'Brien, Melissa George and Michael O'Loughlin's episodes. Shaun, John and Vince's episodes were researched by my esteemed colleague. So I am a bit biased
I really enjoyed working on all three of "my" eps:
Kerry's because it was a personal challenge to unearth family history for one of our best journalists (and a little daunting to interview Kerry I might add) and he was one of the most engaged, thirsty and committed participants I have worked with thus far;
Melissa's 'cause we were able to solve a very personal family mystery about the reasons why both her maternal great grandparents were sent to Australia under the child immigrant scheme as "orphans" and to explore the history of scheme;
Michael..............I think that everyone who worked on or was connected with this episode was truly blown away by the bitter sweet history of Kudnarto and Milerum and delighted to bring their stories to life to Mick and also a wider Australian audience. We are delighted with the responses that we have received to this episode and hope that it continues to resonate. As researcher, I feel honoured and humbled to have been involved in this process.
With all our research, just like yours, there are brick walls in every episode and questions that are unanswerable within our research period. We send our celebs all the research after broadcast and it is up to them and their families to follow-up and continue in the future. As you all know only too well it is an ongoing process, one that is never finished. Hopefully some of them will continue discovery as more and more records come to light and also as they become more accessible.
Kerry and his family are already making progress in moving forward with new leads about Patrick and Hannah since broadcast of his episode.
I am sure that we will hear more from him about this in the future. i.e. possibly a book.
Now your turn? Any particular stand out episodes this series?
Regards
Diana
