Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are?
Genre	Documentary
Narrated by	David Morrissey Mark Strong
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	51 (by 19 August 2009)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two (Series 1-2) BBC One (Series 3-)
Original run	12 October 2004 – present
External links
Official website

Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. Made by Wall to Wall, in each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Seven series have been broadcast, the most recent of which aired in July and August 2009.^[1] The show regularly attracts an audience of more than 6 million viewers^[2].

Episodes

Series One and Two were broadcast on BBC Two, and the first was the channel's highest-rating programme of 2004. This led to episodes being shown on BBC One from the third series onwards. The narrator is Mark Strong, who took over from David Morrissey after the first series, which was nominated for "Best Factual Series or Strand" in the 2005 BAFTAs.

In the first series, the last ten minutes of each episode featured presenter Adrian Chiles and genealogical researcher Nick Barratt giving tips on tracing a family tree. In 2007, a special episode was broadcast in conjunction with the BBC's "Family Wanted" campaign featuring Nicky Campbell, who was adopted a few days after he was born.^[3]

The theme tune was composed by Mark Sayer-Wade, who also provides the background music for each episode.

The episode featuring Boris Johnson was filmed and set to air in late 2007, but was pulled because at the time of transmission, Johnson was getting ready to run in the London Mayoral election, as so the episode was moved to the following series in 2008. ^[4]

Series Eight (2010)

The show has been renewed for 2010 for an unspecified number of episodes. Possible subjects include Konnie Huq,^[5] and David Schwimmer^[6] who have filmed episodes. Also thought to be appearing is former Doctor Who star Freema Agyeman who has been seen with a film crew in Ghana.^{[citation needed]}

Abandoned episodes

The show's producers generally examine 12 celebrities in their planning for a series. After research this is then cut down to 6 by eliminating those whose background is either uninteresting or too close to themes which have already been discussed in past episodes. Michael Parkinson has said that a planned episode about his ancestors was discontinued after six weeks when genealogists failed to find anything interesting^[7].

Media releases

The first four series of Who Do You Think You Are? are available on DVD in the UK (Region 2).

In October 2007, BBC Magazines began issuing Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, a monthly publication that includes material from the TV series.

The series 1-4 box set of Who Do You Think You Are is available now, distributed by Acorn Media UK.

Other countries

In September 2007, a Canadian version comprising 13 episodes began airing on CBC.

An Australian version aired on SBS in January 2008, after six episodes of the BBC version had been shown; the BBC programmes were those featuring Stephen Fry, Bill Oddie, Julia Sawalha, Jeremy Clarkson, Gurinder Chadha and Nigella Lawson.

NBC has also ordered an American adaptation of the show to be produced.^[8]

Ireland's national broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann, has aired two seasons of Irish version of Who Do You Think You Are?[1] in autumn 2008 and autumn 2009. The Irish version has included internationally recognised names such as Ardal O'Hanlon, Dana, Rosanna Davison and Dermot Gavin. The British version of the show already airs on TG4 in Ireland.^[9]

TVP1 has aired a Polish version called Sekrety rodzinne, was emitted from November 2006 to March 2007.

Sveriges television, the Swedish public service broadcasting network aired a Swedish version called "Vem tror du att du är?" in Spring 2009. Later that spring, in May and June, they aired the BBC episodes featuring Stephen Fry, Jeremy Irons, Nigella Lawson, John Hurt and Jane Horrocks.

Also on 31 May 2009, South African station SABC2 premiered its version, split up into two parts, featuring local personalities. ^[10]

Similar programmes

BBC Wales has a similar series called Coming Home, which is made by Yellow Duck Productions and features celebrities with a Welsh background.^[11][12] In 2007, Wall to Wall developed You Don't Know You're Born for ITV1. The series saw various celebrities taking on their ancestors' jobs.

Notes

References

• "WDYTYA? Series one: Celebrity Gallery". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/wdytya_s1_celeb_gallery.shtml. 
• "WDYTYA? Series two: Celebrity Gallery". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/wdytya_s2_celeb_gallery.shtml. 
• "WDYTYA? Series three: Celebrity Gallery". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/wdytya_celeb_gallery.shtml. 
• "WDYTYA? Series four: Celebrity Gallery". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/wdytya_s4_celeb_gallery.shtml. 
• "WDYTYA? Series five: Celebrity Gallery". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/whodoyouthinkyouare/new-stories/. 

External links

• BBC - Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Home
• BBC - Family History
• Who Do You Think You Are? at the Internet Movie Database