BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 6 Episode #5: Kevin Whately

[stonechat]

I thought this was an excellent programme

It remedied the deficiencies of the earlier episodes.

I had slightly hoped that my Whateley family might be connected but there was no sign of that unsurprisingly.

I was disappointed though that the clergymen who may have been interested, were ignored, but there was so much interesting material, that it was not surprising.

Definitely best of the series

Bob

[madpants]

I agree, it was a really good programme, reminiscent of previous series.  Not surprising though as his was filmed at the same time as the last one and held over to this one 

Maybe the new production company can learn something from this episode 

[cms]

Hooray Hooray!! Let's have more like this.
And what a fantastic family tree lucky Kevin had.

[jillruss]

I agree - I thought it was rivetting!

I empathised with Kevin's discomfort in finding lots of wealth in his ancestry. Mine are nowhere near as wealthy or as historically notable as his, but I remember when I first found a 4x great grandfather who'd actually owned land and left a will and thinking he couldn't possibly be mine - I must have made a mistake somewhere along the line as I'm from true working class stock.  

How I wish I could find an ancestor who's warranted a mention in Samuel Pepys diary!

This was by far and away the best of the series - it actually managed to do "what it says on the tin" and go back a few generations rather than give us 45 minutes of parental history with a little bit of genealogy tacked on for good measure. I think it's up there in the top 5 of the whole 6 series.

However, something is worrying me.  

I've read articles in magazines (Radio Times etc) that this episode was made some time ago. Is this merely a throw back to how the programme used to be made, and the other 4 episodes in this series constitute the future of WDYTYA? I do hope not.  

Just seen Madpants post - heartily agree (obviously!). Do you know for sure that it's a new production company? If so, I fear the worst.

Jill

[MarkyP]

I think it's still the same production company as always, Wall to Wall!

[kanskar]

Isn't this the first WDYTYA series without Nick Barratt's involvement ?

[madpants]

I was just going on what was said on a previous thread, I got the impression from that it had changed.  If it hasn't they are obviously in the 'change the recipe to improve things' way of thinking that most things you like tend to get....very rarely is it an improvement  

[Gaille]

well, they definatly saved the best till last!

Wonderful programme............. and even my Parents commented how much more interesting it was than the last ones.

Dad recons they are trying to concentrate too much on 'social history' and not enough on doing what the programmes meant to be about & following the subjects family tree.

Gaille

[truebritmega]

Completely agree! best show of the entire series! for me they have all centred far too much on one person which yes is good, to a degree, but when in a one hour shot... well, this is how I want it! back to shakespears days!, with lots of showing of how the phases went, from finding one record to looking for the next...
this episode has reminded me why i loved the show so much, wheras most of the series... well, i coulda spent better time going out and watching the paint grow... at night!! LOL

lets hope the next series will go back to this formulae and not concentrate too much on one or two individuals