Climbing the family tree

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? BBC1, 9pm

ACTRESS Olivia Colman is completely convinced that her family is “fairly boring”, while she claims to be the “least adventurous” person she knows.

So it’s brilliant TV to watch her journey through her family tree. She discovers that while it remains true that she prefers to be at home in her pyjamas, when it comes to her ancestors, she’s completely wrong.

“I feel like I know more about the Colmans, who are from Norfolk, but my mum’s family, I wouldn’t really know where they came from,” she says, remembering a rumour about a Frenchwoman.

The actress, 44, star of Broadchurch, The Night Manager and soon The Crown, adds: “I don’t know who’s been forgotten in my family and it would be nice to remember them.”

It soon becomes clear that Olivia will need to travel to India, where she finds out more about her great-great-great grandmother Harriot.

Records show that Harriot was an orphan, aged only three or four when she was sent from what was then Calcutta on a ship bound for England in 1811.

Stunned by the news, it’s not long before emotions get the better of mum-of-three Olivia.

“No mummy, no daddy, on a ship for six months. Oh, it’s really sad isn’t it,” she weeps.

But this is only the beginning of a fascinating story about the life of little Harriot that sounds like something straight out of a Jane Austen novel.

Olivia becomes completely invested in the tale, and by the end of it, you will be too.