BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 10 Episode 7 William Roache

[panda40]

The award for the worst hair cut must go to the guy talking about electric medicine I was having a quiet giggle all the time the camera was on him. I agree with everyones comments. Enjoyed the episode a lot, I thought Zilla was an amazing woman and would like to find out even more about her. But why oh why no birth certificates for anyone. Please WDYTYA please show basic steps of evidence to back up census details rather than jump to conclusions. You let yourselves down and give a poor impression on what is supposed to be a quality programme.
Panda

[Mavals]

I found the whole episode to be full of holes, as previous posters have identified.

I would have loved to see more about Zillah's background. She was obviously a capable lady, where did she get her business acumen from etc? If Albert was such a "waster" why did she remain with him? Although divorce was not easy, she obviously had means and could have left him, she had a career so the issue of supporting herself didn't arise.  All sorts of family secrets!


I think the overall standards have dropped in this series. I know it is not meant to be a lesson in how to do genealogy, but I would have thought some accuracy and thoroughness should be included!

Wonder what the unseen footage will include?

[Nick29]

As other posters have already said, there is only so much that you can fit into a one-hour programme.  And Mavals, you must have been in the kitchen making a cup of tea when the programme was dealing with the problems that married women had in business, because they had no rights over their earnings at all, and it was probably easier for Zillah to 'pay off' her husband than to divorce him.

Lastly, if I'm as lucid and agile at 80 as William Roache (if I ever make it!), then I will be a very happy man 

[kooky]

I agree with Panda and Mavals.
Plus, no reference to the Roache side of the family was odd.
More BMD certs would have been interesting
Kooky

[KGarrad]

Be fair!
The programme has to be slow enough so that people not into genealogy can follow (people like William?!).
OTOH there was obviously enough going on to fill 2 or 3 hours of programming.

What information they have found MUST be condensed and edited into a 1 hour programme.

Not an easy choice in choosing what to leave in, and what to leave out.

It was still a huge improvement on the WW1 episodes!

[california dreamin]

Hi all
I don't know if anyone saw the Jonathan Ross show the other week.  They had on John Bishop who was talking about his experience of doing the wdytya programme.  (I have looked for a utube link but sadly can't find one).  But he was very interesting and spoke about the process and about how they explained that they couldn't use all the material they found & filmed and why they followed the path they did.  He also made some interesting remarks about those with ancestors from Norfolk! (No he didn't have Norfolk ancestors  ).  Anyway,  apparently though at the end of the filming he was presented with a "big box" of information + copies of the show etc.  He seemed thrilled to bits with his experience. Now can't wait to see it.     

[Mike in Cumbria]

A few thoughts on last night:


"I couldn't find any redeeming qualities in Albert at all "   

(I don't think that census forms list people's qualities, redeeming or otherwise.)

"It was obviously Albert's drinking that caused his children to be taken away"

(No, it's not at all obvious)

"This daughter was in Staffordshire on census day so must have been ripped from her mother's breast and sent away to safety" - only slightly paraphrasing   (Huge assumptions here)

"The oldest daughter stayed with them, so obviously she had a much stronger character and was able to stand up to the violence in the household".   (No evidence at all)


Perhaps, just perhaps, Zilla hated children.  Maybe she was too busy with her business empire to look after her daughters and sent them away as soon as possible. There's no evidence for this, but it's just as plausible a theory.


They never checked to see whether Albert had a criminal record - there may have been a legal reason why he couldn't be listed as proprietor of a licensed premises.

[Geoff-E]

I noticed on 1911 census there had been another WADDICOR child who died - probably James Albert (1900).

[Nick29]

A few thoughts on last night:

I think the conclusions were made from the 'bigger picture', which I don't think were far from the mark.  Despite Zilla's obvious business talents, there was no women's equality, and Zilla obviously realised that if she divorced Albert, he would get all her money, and her children, and the publicity would wreck her business. Cruelty would be a difficult thing to prove in a divorce court.  I agree that it's very easy to jump to conclusions from census records, but all the evidence presented seemed to suggest that Albert was probably a drinker and possibly a wife-beater.  She paid him off, which at the time was the smart thing to do. 

The only thing that they should have presented was Albert's death certificate, which could have shown a drink-related cause of death.