Who Do You Think You Are? (UK TV series)



Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. In each episode, a celebrity traces their family tree. It is made by the production company Wall to Wall. Twelve series have been broadcast, with the twelfth airing from August to October 2015. The show has regularly attracted an audience of more than 6 million viewers. More than ten international adaptations of the show have been produced.

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 current narrator is Cherie Lunghi. Mark Strong 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.

The theme tune was composed by Mark Sayer-Wade, who also provided the background music for earlier episodes. The music for later episodes is provided by Julian Hamlin and Edmund Jolliffe.

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, so the episode was moved to the following series in 2008.

Series 12 (2015)
On 23 June 2015, the BBC confirmed the lineup for Series 12, which began on 13 August 2015.

Series 13 (2016-17)
On 13 July, the line-up for the 13th series was confirmed. The series started on 24 November 2016.

Awards and nominations
The show was nominated for the 2010 BAFTA Television Award for Best Factual Series.

Media releases
Series 1 – 11 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, distributed by Acorn Media UK.

Other countries
The format of the series has proved popular around the world and the BBC has licensed it to many foreign television companies, who have produced their own individual versions:

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

In September 2007, a first series of Canadian version, consisting of 13 episodes, aired on CBC Television.

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.

In 2008, ARD's Das Erste aired the German version, called Das Geheimnis meiner Familie ("The secret of my family"). They aired four episodes featuring Marie-Luise Marjan, Armin Rohde, Christine Neubauer and Peter Maffay.

Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ has aired two series of Irish version of Who Do You Think You Are? 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.

Sveriges Television, the Swedish public service broadcaster, aired a Swedish version called Vem tror du att du är? in 2009. Later that year, in May and June, they also 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 into two parts, featuring local personalities.

An American adaptation of the show premiered on 5 March 2010 on NBC. In Britain, this began airing on BBC One on Sunday 13 June 2010.

In 2010, the Dutch version called Verborgen Verleden ("Hidden Past") of the show started. Thus far, four series of eight episodes each have been produced in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. From 2005 to 2008, four series of the show Verre Verwanten ("Distant Relatives") were shown on Dutch television.

In September 2010, the Danish TV station Danmarks Radio aired the first episode of the Danish version, called Ved du hvem du er?.

On 1 September 2010, France 2 aired two episodes of the French version, Retour aux Sources, featuring Vincent Pérez and Clémentine Célarié

In January 2011, the Norwegian TV station NRK started to air the Norwegian version, called Hvem tror du at du er?

Starting on 9 January 2012, Finland's national public-broadcasting company, YLE, aired 15 episodes of the Finnish version, called Kuka oikein olet?, in which local public figures searched for their origins.

A furthering of the concept was developed for American public broadcast TV, called Finding Your Roots, with Henry Louis Gates. This series adds DNA profiling to the format; including Y-chromosome DNA, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analyses to infer both ancient and recent genetic relationships. The series started airing on 25 March 2012.

In January 2013, Czech broadcaster ČT started broadcasting their version of this show, called Tajemství rodu ("The secret of the lineage").

Starting 15 January 2013, RTP1 broadcast a Portuguese version called Quem É que Tu Pensas Que És? ("Who Do You Think You Are?") at the 10:30 pm timeslot. The first season featured such names as the comedian Herman José, the actresses Maria do Céu Guerra and Maria João Abreu, the musician Zé Pedro from the Xutos & Pontapés rock band and the fadista Camané.

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. 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. UKTV broadcast My Famous Family in 2007.

A short parody sketch of the show featured in the first series of The Armstrong and Miller Show in which Alexander Armstrong plays a fictionalised version of himself, discovering that his paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother were a child molester and a brothel-owner, respectively.