New WDYTYA? celebrities confirmed
Stars from the worlds of music, comedy, sport, television and film are set to discover their families’ stories as BBC One’s hit show Who Do You Think You
Are? returns for its 15th series. The show’s 2018 celebrity line-up will consist of eight stars: the awardwinning actor Olivia Colman; musician, DJ, fashion designer and British icon Boy George; Strictly Come Dancing’s head judge Shirley Ballas; comedian and Not Going Out star Lee Mack; presenter and former JLS member Marvin Humes; barrister and television personality Robert ‘Judge’ Rinder; Coronation Street and Our Girl star Michelle Keegan; and gold medalwinning Paralympian Jonnie Peacock.
The series will begin on 6 June, with Michelle Keegan discovering a suffragette ancestor with connections to Emmeline Pankhurst in an episode aired as part of the BBC’s ‘Hear Her’ season to mark the centenary of women winning the right to vote. The other episodes will air later.
Fatima Salaria, BBC commissioning editor, called the new series “must-see television at its best”.
Actor Danny Dyer’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? won the Features category at the 2017 BAFTA Television Awards.
The series will see the celebrities travelling to Genoa, India, Jamaica, South Africa and Latvia, uncovering stories of the First World War frontlines, the East India Company, adultery, asylums and more.
Colette Flight, executive producer for the programme’s production company Wall to Wall, said: “Britain’s best-loved stars are delving into their family trees, uncovering hidden secrets and solving mysteries. The stories they unearth are revelatory, often unexpectedly humorous but always affecting.”