WDYTYA? - Adil Ray

Adil Ray's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was extremely interesting.

Following the African and Indian-African parts of his family, Adil uncovered tales of hard-working and generous people, as well as the adversity of racial prejudice within the different communities of the British Empire.

Adil's grandmother was Ugandan, with an Asian father and a Ugandan mother.

Because of her heritage she faced both a heart-breaking separation from her mother after the death of her father, and prejudice after her marriage to Adil's Indian grandfather.

This episode gave us a chance to hear more about Ugandan history.

I readily admit that I knew nothing about Ugandan history at all! It was very interesting to get the chance to learn a little but about it.

Overall, this was a great episode!

WDYTYA? - Clare Balding

Clare Balding's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? existed mainly to make the rest of us feel common and unconnected.

Apparently this was the less posh side of the family. Wow.

Basically, Clare Balding is very, very, posh.

She is the descendent of socialites, Earls, Lords, and Madison Avenue types (literally - as in, they actually lived on Madison Avenue in the 20s.)

It turns out part of Clare's family is also very American.

We always tend to think of her as a British treasure, but her grandmother was from the state of New Jersey, and fell for a young English polo player.

And there was a look into the social life of another of Clare's family members, Malcolm Bullock, MP.

Malcolm, with very fancy friends, had had a relationship - almost certainly romantic - with the painter Rex Whistler, at a time in which same-sex relationships were illegal.

An interesting and solid little episode.

WDYTYA? - Craig Revel Horwood

Craig Revel Horwood's episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, while not as dramatic as last week's episode with Charles Dance, was quite interesting.

I personally think his 100-year-old grandmother is simply amazing, and he should definitely visit her more than once in four years! (You couldn't make it for her 100th birthday, Craig?! Come on!)

The episode was very much a case of rags to riches (and then back to rags again,) with Craig's part of the family missing out on a sizeable inheritance because they're descended from the female line.

It's sad but true that to many patriarchs of the past, a daughter or granddaughter was literally worth less than a son.

For me though, the highlight was the image conjured by a newspaper ad; of men from the North of England having a dance-off in a rural sheep station in Australia.

That's worthy of a Monty Python sketch, surely!

WDYTYA? - Charles Dance

Phew! What a start to the series!

Charles Dance's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was... wow!

The first half was dedicated to his mother's family - artisans, originally from Europe - with one of his female ancestors, in his own words, looking like him 'in drag.'

(Seriously, the resemblance was amazing.)

It was the second half of the episode that hit hard though.

Charles' father died when he was very young - leaving him with very little information or connection to the man.

As he started to delve into his father's history, many things started to surface - not least that his father was much older than Charles had thought, and was actually born in the 1870s!

More surprises - about close family he never knew he had - followed thick and fast.

In true WDYTYA? style, Charles was overcome by it all, more than once - but then wondered why it hit him so hard.

He clearly needs to be kinder to himself. Because if I learned, within a few days, all that came to light for him, I would be a wreck!

An excellent start to the series, then. One of the more interesting episodes of recent years.

And if you missed it, you can catch up on the BBC's iPlayer.

Who Do You Think You Are is Back on Thursday!

Who Do You Think You Are? returns this Thursday on BBC1 @ 9pm.

(Yes, I know, it seems like I only blog when WDYTYA? is on - but I'm busy tracing all your families for you!)

Series 14 kicks off with Charles Dance, and will be split into two half-series.

The other celebs are:

• Craig Revel Horwood (off of Strictly)
• Clare Balding
• Adil Ray (aka Citizen Khan)
• Emma Willis (presenter on the Voice and married to that feller from Mc/Busted)

The second half of the series will air later in the year.

I'm hoping to give you all my usual little write-ups... and hopefully not lose any episodes along the way like I somehow did with the last episode of series 13!