BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 10 Episode 8 Celia Imrie

[ReadyDale]

My point entirely Lydart, I found it interesting in that there were so many places around London to find yet more records.

Pat ...

Whilst I would agree to a point, it does lessen the interest when you have to be a celebrity with a BBC camera crew in tow to have access to them 

[Gillg]

I must agree that much of this programme resembled a history lesson with far too many passages read aloud by Celia Imrie (poor editing?).  Although I imagine that there would have been a great deal of research done which wasn't shown, it would have been more interesting to see how the family was traced.  It comes back to poor editing to me.  It really feels as though the producers have been told to find a different angle for this series, and have chosen to concentrate on specific ancestors or periods of history to the exclusion of others.  If the aim is to show how ancestors are traced, then the steps you have to take to do this are really not well represented.

As for the tenuous link between Celia's son and his interest in politics, jumping back several centuries to find a politician was a bit of a leap of the imagination.  Suppose she had said, "My son is interested in bricklaying."  Would they have gone back a couple of centuries to find another brickie?

All in all I am finding this series a bit of a yawn.

Gillg

[PappyG]

I couldn't agree more.

I always thought it was all about tracing the family tree, the methods of finding them, and the outcome. But on this episode, it homed in on one person, I think it was Celia's Gt.Gt.Gt.Gt.Gt.Gt.Gt.Gt. Grandmother, and never moved from her all night.

Really boring!! 

[Skoosh]

I don't think Jacobean savants will be agog at any of this. The BBC researchers will be discovering that Henry VIII had marital problems next. We did however discover that Celia has a quite remarkable ability to read early 17th century script and that educated folk pronounce Whig as "Wig".
 She is obviously very proud of young Imrie (aspiring MP?) and dismisses the Imrie genes as they never had a bandstand in their honour. His father's genes never rated a mention.
 The star was the country cousin who was straight from Central Casting.
Sun's well over the yard-arm, time for a "Wisky".
 

[Suffolk Mawther]

Perhaps they should have looked at the Whitrow family too, as the actor Benjamin Whitrow is Angus' father. 
The 'political genes' could come from his father's side of the family 

Pat ...

[Mike in Cumbria]

.....We did however discover that Celia has a quite remarkable ability to read early 17th century script ....

I noticed that too. There's no way she was reading those papers for the first time, which made me slightly sceptical about the "oohs and ahhs " of surprise. She is a good actor , of course.  Apart from niggles about the programme, I thought she came across very well.

[california dreamin]

Perhaps they should have looked at the Whitrow family too, as the actor Benjamin Whitrow is Angus' father. 
The 'political genes' could come from his father's side of the family 

Pat ...

Yes, I too thought Celia took a lot for granted that her son's interest in politics etc. had come from her 'genes' and not that of his father's.  And to pick up a point from Skoosh I also marvelled at Celia's ability to read the paleography.  Perhaps it is all in the 'genes' 

[LizzieW]

Quote from: Skoosh on Today at 12:31:21
.....We did however discover that Celia has a quite remarkable ability to read early 17th century script ....

Especially when you think how some of the subjects struggle to read perfectly legible modern records.

[suey]

as for not seeing the paper trail .... well, we saw a different sort of paper trail in various record collections all over London.

Would we as 'joe public' have the same kind of access I wonder? and they used some pretty high-brow researchers/historians on this one.