ROOTS WITH A VIEW
KATHERINE RYAN IS HOPING TO FIND OUT ONCE AND FOR ALL WHERE SHE REALLY HAILS FROM…
Katherine Ryan knows exactly who she is: she’s Canadian. And a bit Irish. And she also feels increasingly English. Okay, maybe there are still some question marks over where she feels most at home, but she’s hoping to put those to rest this week, as she takes part in Who Do You Think You Are? to find out where her roots truly lie. Inside TV caught up with the comic to learn what she discovered…
Did you have any misgivings about what you might find?
I didn’t have any fears! I have mentioned it to a few people now that we’ve finished filming and I was surprised that loads of my friends said, “Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to know, you can’t change the past.” I just thought everyone wanted to know these things! I was very excited to do it. I’ve been a fan of the show for so long and find it one of the most fascinating programmes on television.
You mention in the show that you were hoping to find that you have English roots – why was that?
It’s not that finding out I had English roots was necessarily important to me, I would’ve been fine with finding out I’m from anywhere else, but after living here for the past 13 years, I really feel at home in the UK. I just love it here, so I thought there must be a reason why. Also, my daughter is English and she teases me for pronouncing things incorrectly. She’ll say, “I’m sorry about my mother, she’s so Canadian.” She’s the fancy one!
But you do end up finding out a lot about your Canadian roots, too…
In the past, I’d been accused in my stand-up of slagging off my home town. I was born in Sarnia in Ontario, but I was never an adult while I was there. When I lived there, I was
a teenager, so my life was obviously fraught with angst and drama, and I didn’t like where I was. I just felt that I needed to escape and be somewhere else. I think now, having learned more about Canada, I do need to be careful about what I say, because it’s a beautiful place and has such a rich history. The people who went to Canada to create new lives for themselves were so tough, and I have a far greater respect for that now.