Last night's episode of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' featuring Nitin Ganatra was a real international trip crossing continents. Nitin's family history journey involved visiting both Kenya and India as he explored the lives of his ancestors. It was an emotional journey as the tale showed the hard lives of his forebears as they worked on the Kenyan Railway and also battled to escape famine and ill-health in India at the turn of the century.
To travel back and speak to a village elder aged over 100 years old who remembered the Ganatra family did make the episode particularly fascinating. The poor record keeping in India over the years did make this programme more about what can be discovered through different channels of research, including speaking to elders, rather than the standard record sources we normally see used by the celebrities.
All told it was a very unusual but still fascinating episode. Comedienne Sarah Millican is the celebrity featured next week!
A fascinating and emotional journey with Nitin Ganatra on Who Do You Think You Are?
After watching the third episode of Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC1 last night, I feel the series so far has been excellent and the intriguing family history story of Minnie Driver and her ancestors did not disappoint.
Last night's episode had family scandal with love affairs and illegitimate births, brave war hero exploits and the psychological scars of war and the discovery of relatives (both living and dead) she had previously not known ever existed. A very interesting discovery of family history!
Ronnie Driver pictured with his mother Jessie after returning home a war hero
What did you think? Let us know! The next episode features the actress Lesley Sharp who also has a very interesting ancestral history by all accounts!
Minnie featured with her late father Ronnie Driver and son Henry
I found the Nigel Havers episode of Who Do You Think You Are? last night on BBC1 another interesting and very watchable programme, following on from Una Stubbs and her journey last week. The series so far does seem to have improved in format, coupled with some very interesting family history stories.
Last night's episode was both interesting and varied. Ranging from a clever businessman in Colchester who suffered ill-fortune and bankruptcy after building up a very successful set of businesses, to the life and times of his ancestors who worked in a mill in Cornwall who suffered both personal tragedy and scandal. All a far cry from the posh actor from a recent legal dynasty!
Hopefully the TV series continues to be as good as the first two episodes. I'm already looking forward to the Minnie Driver programme next week!
Not quite as posh as we expected, Nigel Havers on Who Do You Think You Are?
