GREG’S GHOSTLY FAMILY SECRET

Welsh-born comedy giant discovers family secrets and a link to royalty

WELSH-BORN actor and comedian Greg Davies got much more than he bargained for when he agreed to appear in the family history programme Who Do You Think You Are?

The 48-year-old, who is best known for his role as Mr Gilbert in the hit TV show The Inbetweeners, is taking part in the show that traces the ancestry of celebrities to find out more about the Welsh side of his family.

In the episode which airs this week, Greg reveals that his Welsh father hinted at secrets within the Davies family, secrets that Greg, a giant of British comedy who stands at 6ft 8in, was keen to explore.

Greg was brought up in Shropshire, but his father, who died a few years ago and who was, said Greg, “the funniest person I’ve ever met”, made sure that the actor and stand-up was born in Wales.

“The Welsh roots were incredibly important to my dad. That’s why he told me I had to be born in Wales, to make absolutely certain when my rugby career took off I would be a Welsh international. And I’m very sorry that he got a fat comedian instead,” said Greg.

Greg was keen to take up the chance to appear on the family history programme to delve deeper into his Welsh roots and to flush out the hinted-at family secrets.

“I am embarrassed about my knowledge of my father’s side of the family,” he said.

In the programme Greg travels to Gwynedd, Flintshire and the Rhondda on a quest to unravel the story behind his father’s family.

It begins with his great-grandmother Elizabeth Thomas, a mother of seven, and the discovery of birth and marriage certificates that throw up as many questions as they give answers.

Greg then sets out on a mission to find out more about his newlydiscovered “Jack the Lad” greatgrandfather and his father, a farmer and chapel deacon.

Along the way he discovers a tale of single parents, multiple marriages, a teenage death and a tragic accident. There is even a ghost story. A local historian tells him there are modern myths surrounding an accident that killed his ancestor, the ghost of a man and woman in a horse and cart.

He is also astonished to find a family connection to royalty.

Greg follows the journey of his ancestors from the shops and farms of Gwynedd to the mining community of the Rhondda.

The fascination, said Greg, who was very close to his Welsh dad, was in trying to find out as much as he could about the father and son dynamic between ancestors William and Evan.

“So much about this has been about the relationship between fathers and sons and the importance of that,” he said.

Greg describes the journey that uncovers his family history as “overwhelming”.

“We as a family were quite a tight unit... but I didn’t consider the influence of those further back.

“I am left in no doubt that the people who go before you shape who you become, to a degree.

“I haven’t worked out to what extent, but I have felt it for the first time ever,” said Greg.

“I think my father would be both delighted and annoyed that I have at last taken an interest in his family and the roots that were so dear to him. I’m only sorry I didn’t do it sooner.”

Who Do You Think You Are, starring Greg Davies, airs on BBC One on February 1 at 8pm