WDYTYA? - Boy George

Boy George's episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, which aired last Wednesday, was one of those episodes which show the true tragedy that many families faced in the past.

This can be exceptionally evident in the case of Irish history.

Men who were hung as traitors under British rule in Ireland are now seen as Irish national heroes - which does show how history is often simply a matter of perspective.



George was clearly affected by the scene of his great-uncle's hanging. With good reason.

Sometimes the past can be truly hard to face, not least in terms of the hardships and harrowing circumstances that members of your own family may have had to live through.



Likewise the poverty faced by many Irish people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is difficult to fathom from where we stand today.

The slums of nineteenth century Dublin were the poorest of the poor, but the places to which children were removed by the NSPCC weren't always better. Often, they were far more abusive than the homes which the children had left, which were poor but loving.

This was an interesting but sad episode, with a highly likeable celeb.

WDYTYA? - Lee Mack

Lee Mack's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? aired on Monday, starting us off with Lee finding out about his fellow comedian, ancestor Billy Mac.

Billy's story encompassed both variety/music hall performances, and the Western Front in World War One.

Billy performed with a gallows-humour style comedy troupe called 'The Optimists' on the front lines.




Also part of Lee's episode was a look at his maternal family in Ireland.

Life wasn't that easy for his ancestors, and Lee was perhaps a little quick to judge an unmarried mother who emigrated to Canada while leaving her son in her parents' care.

Often, family members who emigrated would send money home to their relatives - additionally, not having her as another mouth to feed would also have benefitted the family financially.

Of course, not knowing the exact circumstances, it may have been just as Lee suspected at first - or something else entirely.

That's the thing about trying to understand the actions of people in the past - without more context, it can be very difficult to understand how acceptable something was.

Lee did begin to wonder whether he was being too harsh, and judging his ancestor too much by modern standards, when the conditions and economic difficulties his family were in became clearer - it can be worthwhile to understand that survival is often the top motivating factor behind the actions of our forebears!

WDYTYA? - Olivia Colman

Monday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured actress Olivia Colman.

For me, Olivia's bouncy attitude is what made this episode worth the watch - she really did make it interesting just by being there!

Of course, her family's story was also really interesting!

This episode really benefitted from a family that could've waltzed straight out of Dickens or Austen, encompassing India, Portugal, and France, and death, divorce, and some very strong women.

And of course it's hard not to be at least a little envious when someone's family were posh enough to have actual painted portraits!

This episode had all of the amazing twists and turns you would hope for in a episode of Who Do You Think You Are? and hopefully is a great indication of the standard of the rest of the series.

Again though, what really made this episode was Colman's investment in not only the highs, but the lows as well.

Yes, there were the patented Who Do You Think You Are? tears. Many of them, in fact!