BBC "Who Do You Think You Are?" Gareth Malone (WDYTYA Series 12 Episode 5)

[Mowsehowse]

Sorry BUT I remember Mary Berry from TV many years ago.... so she is far from 'Todays News'  !  xin

So do I!      

My reaction too. Mary Berry has had a very long and distinguished career. Check out the number of books she has had published!!

In fact I think it is a good many years since Gareth Malone formed the Military Wives Choir isn't it??

[Barnes612]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the US one is now much better than 'ours', even when I have no idea who the subject is!! 

Crikey! Really? It's only 30 minutes long and because of that all they appear to do (to me) is present the star with info and the star says, 'Oh, wow! That's amazing!' Then it's a recap, then another recap because the ads have been on, then another bit of info and another 'Oh wow! That's amazing!' Repeat.

There was one show though where the female star had an ancestor who either lost a leg or who had to saw someone's leg off out in the great yonder, and she was doing a reconstruction of what happened and she was so into it I thought she was just going to keep going and saw her own leg off.  I don't think the ads had got to the stage where they took up half the timeslot in that series, though.

[DavidG02]

. I also have the distinct impression that they were going further back now yet you think the exact opposite! How strange! I haven't seen the Australian version so can't comment.

Its a mixed bag. The first few series pushed back to find the  overseas connection but overall it follows the story.

Peter Rowsthorn only went back to the 1930s to find his grandfather. It was a good program for those who have brick walls and untold family stories. (though I felt Peters father knew more than he let on)

Others have gone back to early Oz history, others have gone to Europe to pre-2nd World War while 1 or 2 have had Concentration Camp stories which can be quite harrowing

I also think the ''celebrities'' that the program wants to get are quite choosy about letting people know who they really are  so you get the ones with no fear.

[Ruskie]

I am willing to give the US version another try as I haven't seen any for some time. Due to the reasons I mentioned (jokingly) above and my lack of interest in American History (sorry) they left me cold I'm afraid. Plus I sensed a degree of falseness in some of the 'celebs'. It was not so much the stories but the manner in which they were presented I think.

Something I recently discovered is that the (current?) American series has a programme about JK Rowling. I am pretty sure I saw her on the UK version a couple of seasons ago. I have not yet watched the American 'version' but looking at the ad it seems to me that they have pinched the UK programme, put an American voiceover, and added more ads and recaps. 

The Australian series is enjoyable - similar to the UK series in that some stories are more interesting than others. David is correct in that in this current series the family history has not gone back very far, however they have looked into specific family mysteries and tried to solve these. (and the stories have been very interesting) So, justified I think. One thing I really like is that the music and intro are the same as the UK WDYTYA, with the addition of a bit of digeridoo and a gum tree rather than the UK's oak(?) tree. I thought that was a nice touch. 

[jillruss]

My point wasn't really whether people liked or knew the 'celebrity' (what an over used word!) in question. It was more that that was why they were being chosen as subjects for the programme irrespective of their ancestry and how interesting it was.

I seem to remember a few years back reading that they'd shelved a prog on Michael Parkinson because it wasn't of sufficient interest. Anything to do with the fact that by that time he was only on tv to do the odd panel show and advertise death insurance - I feel sure that, had he still been a Saturday night chat show host, the prog would have gone ahead?

[Galium]

In this article from 2011:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tv/2011/08/who-do-you-think-you-are.shtml
 executive producer Tom McDonald says:



Before we commit to making an episode with a particular celebrity, we do around three months of dedicated research - first building their family tree, then trying to get all the documents available relating to their ancestors.

This is a painstaking task, which often leads to dead ends and brick walls.

Sometimes, we're extremely lucky - a vital clue will simply fall into our hands. But in some cases we have to make the difficult decision to stop the research and let the celebrity know that we won't be able to make the programme.

Of course, we provide them with all the research we've accumulated - but as far as the series goes, that's the end of the story.

This means for a run of 10 episodes, we research around 30 people.

So it hasn't just been Michael Parkinson that never made it to the series. 

[jennifer c]

I'm sure between us we could provide them with far more interesting people to feature.

Jennifer

[Finley 1]

Would be interesting to see a list of the almost made its...

xin

[Ruskie]

Would be interesting to see a list of the almost made its...

xin

It certainly would be interesting to see a list ... and the reasons why they were scrapped. That would almost be a programme (or two) in itself I would think.