Family tree stumps star

WHEN IT comes to genealogy shows, where would you say your loyalties lie? Do you prefer BBC One’s Who Do You Think You Are? Or is ITV’s DNA JOURNEY (9pm) more your cup of tea? Personally, I waver. I’ve always been a fan of the BBC’s series, not least because it’s the one that came up with the whole idea.

Not the idea of tracing one’s family tree, obviously, but the idea of letting us watch someone famous tracing theirs.

But although ITV’s owes a debt to that concept (or shamelessly pinched it, if you insist; just leave me out of this, OK?), I must admit I enjoy its alternative take.

Of course, it still boils down to whoever is tracing their roots in any particular week and whether you happen to give two hoots about them.

But DNA Journey has given itself a distinct advantage in that respect, as it features not just one but two celebrities per episode, working in tandem, giving each other moral and emotional support, poking fun at one another if need be.

Their link may be only a showbiz one – which might make the set-up seem a bit daft and contrived and, well, you know, a bit ITV, if you get my drift – but it’s an added dimension that can actually bring a lot of colour and warmth.

Tonight’s episode is a fine example of this, with Larry Lamb and Alison Steadman pairing up to explore their respective roots.

While they may be husband and wife only in a telly sense, having played Mick and Pam in the brilliant Gavin And Stacey, there’s an off-screen bond between them that shines through, and which they clearly cherish.

“Once you start playing a family,” Larry remarks, “you do become like a family. She’s a very special person.”

For Alison, there’s a particularly remarkable revelation in store, as the researchers reveal some extraordinary information about her father.

It’s such powerful stuff that they break it to her off-camera, allowing her time to take it in before they resume filming,

But we begin in London’s East End, where Larry was raised. And the more we hear about his antecedents and what they got up to, the more uncannily their lives resemble an EastEnders plot. (“So my great-great-grandmother was having an affair with her younger sister’s husband..?”)

Yes, it’s as if Larry was somehow destined to end up in Albert Square, as of course he did in 2008, playing evil Archie Mitchell. Not that he stuck around for long.

The following Christmas, Archie was fatally bludgeoned in the pub with the bust of Queen Victoria.

His daughter Roxy was devastated. His daughter Ronnie somewhat less so.

Families, eh?