Who do you think you are series 20

[brigidmac]

i fell aslleep before end of latest one will watch now .

when ever technology plays up i presume ive jinxed it  ,

dont have a tv so have tofind on laptop on iplayer

[Petros]

Last night's was very boring. How many more times do they have to show episodes featuring the Easter rising?

[Gillg]

I agree and think that there were missed opportunities to flesh out the family's history, particularly on the Jamaican side. 

[ggrocott]

I quite enjoyed it - at least it combined the obligatory Irish and Carribbean episodes and did some 'proper research'.

Missed last weeks off course which I understand may also have had an Irish flavour.

[Top-of-the-hill]

  I got fed up when I realised it was the Easter rising again, and watched the Van Tulleken one on iplayer instead. I missed it when it was broadcast. I wonder how long they will keep making these programmes, as they are bound to be somewhat repetitive, but perhaps there are new audiences coming along?

[Blue70]

Yes the Irish revolutionary/civil war period does get repeated coverage on the show I don't mind that so much it's sometimes not revealing the full picture that always bothers me. Self government or Home Rule for Ireland had been talked about for years and it was supported by many in Britain but the main obstacle to it was Irish Unionism which had its powerbase in the north of Ireland. The British government should be criticised for delaying self government/partition of Ireland but there could have been more peaceful activism so that lives were not lost and we could have had today all those Irish records that were destroyed at the Four Courts in Dublin.


Blue   

[Davedrave]

I find the “dumbing down” somewhat irritating at times. Was Dev Griffin really surprised that his relative was sentenced to two year’s imprisonment for taking part in the Easter Rising, an insurrection assisted by Germany, in the middle of a war which took the lives of over three quarters of a million servicemen, including lots of Irish soldiers (and at a time when some members of the British Army were being shot dead by the army for cowardice or desertion)? Is the wide-eyed look and gasp of surprise just obligatory in every episode of this programme?

[Blue70]

I agree most episodes dumb down the history and at times they lean heavily on historical events that may not have influenced their ancestor. For example someone moving to Britain from Ireland in the 19th century was not necessarily a starving person fleeing the famine. One of my Irish ancestors was first recorded in England in 1807. Like with England, Wales, Scotland & Isle of Man Irish people moved around and it wasn't necessarily because of the political situation or terrible events.


Blue   

[KGarrad]

My 2nd Great-Grandfather went the other way!

He moved to Ireland in 1860, and died there in 1868.
Married in Dublin 1861.