IAN HYLAND
on last night’s telly
‘‘ This new series boasts one of its strongest lineups so far
Who Do You Think You Are? BBC1: ★★★★
As you may have heard, ITV and the BBC have just announced a new online streaming service to rival Netflix.
Nice to see them working together. It’s just a pity they couldn’t also come up with a way of ensuring their flagship genealogy programmes didn’t clash with each other on a
Monday night. Even in the age of catch-up and on-demand it still seems a daft scheduling decision.
I expect ITV will be relieved Long Lost Family only has a few more weeks to run, because this new series of Who Do You Think You Are? boasts one of its strongest line-ups.
It kicked off last night with Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe and has big names like Kate Winslet, Sharon Osbourne, Naomie Harris, Paul Merton and Jack (and Michael) Whitehall to come.
Daniel’s climb up and down his family tree also stepped on Long Lost Family’s toes when it came to the tissue count.
The first half featured the tragic tale of his great granddad Samuel who killed himself while battling business debts and accusations of fraud.
The sight of Daniel reading Samuel’s suicide note may have proved too much for some viewers, but Daniel clearly thought it was necessary in terms of understanding the full picture.
The second half was no less emotional, focussing on Daniel’s four great, great uncles who left Northern Ireland to fight in the First World War. Only three made it back.
There were lighter moments too, not least the unveiling of a snap of Daniel’s great, great grandfather Louis.
The likeness was so uncanny you had to suspect some kind of wizardry was involved.