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Jodie Whittaker is reduced to tears by the heroics of her great-uncle during the First World War in a newseriesofthe genealogy show
Our 52-page guide includes Jaci Stephen’s Soap Watch, your Movie Planner, plus a sneak preview of Jodie Whittaker’s moving turn on Who Do You Think You Are?
She’s famous for playing a time-travelling heroine who takes on evil aliens in order to protect the universe. What Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker wasn’t aware of, until she did a little time-travelling of her own, was the hero in her own family.
Jodie knew almost nothing about her Great-uncle Walter until she delved into the history books for ancestry show Who Do You Think You Are? What she discovers leaves her proud, astonished... and tearful.
The half-brother of Jodie’s beloved grandmother Greta, Walter was born out of wedlock while his teenage mother Eliza was working as a servant at a house in London. Eliza went on to have Greta two decades later.
Walter became an orderly at a military hospital in Hampshire in the First World War. Despite witnessing the horrific effect of the conflict while helping wounded soldiers, he volunteered to fight in France.
‘I imagine he couldn’t cope with the suffering of the men returning from the trenches and felt he had to do something himself,’ says Jodie. ‘And he probably knew he wasn’t going to come back. I wanted to scream at him, “Don’t do it!”’
It’s here that family legend and truth diverge. Greta’s middle name was Verdun and it’s always been assumed that was a tribute to Walter, who was thought to have died during the Battle of Verdun.
But it emerges that the battle was fought between France and Germany and Walter would have had no part in it. As military historian Dr David Kenyon explains, ‘It was fashionable to name your children after battles at that time. More than 900 children were called Verdun.’
So what did happen to Walter in France? Official records reveal a level of courage that reduces Jodie to tears and is being kept under wraps so as not to spoil the show.
This first episode of the new, four-part series of Who Do You Think You Are? also looks at Jodie’s maternal great-grandfather
Edwin, who made a fortune from mining – in controversial circumstances.
Next week returns to the Great War as Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams traces stories of his greatgrandfather, who fought in two brutal battles. He also learns of another ancestor who was a travelling showman. ‘I was pleased to find entertainment runs in the family,’ says David.
Later in the series, Liz Carr – forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery in Silent Witness – discovers whether her Irish ancestor Barney Ryan really did attempt to murder his landlord. And Gavin & Stacey star Ruth Jones finds out more about the medical and maritime pioneers in her Welsh family.