FAMILY MAGIC
Daniel Radcliffe charms on Who Do You Think You Are?
Who Do You Think You Are?
BBC One, 10pm
IMAGINE finding out that you were related to Harry Potter, or at least the actor who plays him. When Daniel Radcliffe knocks on the door of Louis Gershon’s north London house in tonight’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Gershon can’t quite believe it’s real. They share a great-great-grandfather, who bears a strong resemblance to Radcliffe. Gershon is honoured to play a role filling in the blank spaces of their shared family history as Radcliffe turns detective.
The actor isn’t at all starry. He comes across as a polite, sensitive young man who has grown up a lot since his exuberant teenage chat show experiences (look up his turns on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross). This show, where celebrities from Boris Johnson to Danny Dyer delve into their ancestry, is in its 16th series, and if this episode is anything to go by it shows no signs of getting tired. When the subject is right you find that you actually do care about who they think they are.
Radcliffe’s family is more interesting that he first assumed. His great-greatgrandfather emigrated from Germany to South Africa and settled in London, running a successful diamond business in Hatton Garden. He passed it on to his son, Samuel, and what happened after that is so dramatic that it could be the subject of Radcliffe’s next film.
The actor is taken aback at how much he identifies with his relatives; people he never knew, from a different time. He sees their lives through the prism of his own experience with anxiety, and is upset to hear about the anti-Semitism his family faced. His reading of the story is done in a feminist light — for him this is about the triumph of the women who followed his male ancestor.
Just as you’re processing the emotion of the Hatton Garden events, Radcliffe is off to Banbridge, near Belfast. He meets his aunt Linda and we see some baby pictures of a recognisable if much smaller Radcliffe, looking as if he is trying to eat his grandmother’s face. There’s a love story here, about greatgreat-uncle Ernie, who fought in the First World War. He was the youngest of four boys, all close to their mother. Linda has kept Ernie’s letters and gives them to Radcliffe to read. He focuses on Ernie’s letters to his sweetheart, Jeanie. Again, Radcliffe’s response to their story is heartfelt. He identifies with this young couple, although he gives no clues as to his own love life.
Potter obsessives may be disappointed about this. Still, they will enjoy the plentiful baby pictures of Radcliffe, especially the ones at the beginning of him growing up in west London. His casting director mother and literary agent father didn’t want him to go into acting but he felt it was a way to prove himself after not excelling at school. They are a close family unit of three and he appreciates the challenges they faced bringing him up in the spotlight. If the man we see on this touching show is anything to go by, they did a magic job.