Genealogy on TV - new approach needed

[lesleyhannah]

Why can't there be a mix of Ag Labs and more exotic ancestors? Oz Lady has reminded me - I have a couple of convict ancestors transported to Oz - would love to see a programme about tracing them. And I have Scots ancestors who ended up in New Zealand, and a Yorkshire ancestor in Canada. I'd like to see a programme where they traced the descendants of these British emigrants. I'm happy to see celebrities, but I think they should be picked carefully.

[Brian & Berni]

Disappearing Britain was very good to watch with those who can get channel 5
Ricky Tomlinson is on next week
Can you not get Channel 5 if you buy a Freeview digibox

[shellyesq]

I don't think we have much of anything in the US about family history.  When ancestry.com had its recent free trial, there were segments on Good Morning America, but I missed them.  My husband said his friend saw it, and it sounded like they made the research sound really easy.     There is a show called History Detectives on PBS (the public broadcasting channel) that has done some segments related to genealogy or the history of a home, but they are few and far between.

[julianb]

Can you not get Channel 5 if you buy a Freeview digibox

You need to put your postcode in at this page

http://www.freeview.co.uk/home

to find out if you are in range of Freeview Digital Coverage

JULIAN

[Tricia_2]

Have you seen this site:

Roots TV

http://www.rootstelevision.com/

[Jean McGurn]

I think maybe the reason that BBC is picking celeb's with foreign ancestry is good for those of us whose ancestors came from other countries. Not only does the programme show where to go to find records but also the lands from whence they came.

I think Colin Jackson's piece where he was standing in the plantation remains was good in showing how some people lived in the 19C. Then there was finding out that a lot of Indian families can go back a lot of generations if their family has kept the 'rolls'

I enjoyed Jeremy Iron's bit where he went back to Ireland. It gave me a great insight to how my ancestors (who left Ireland before 1841) must have lived 


Highweek wrote:-
How about a six part series tracing a family's ancestors and yes our Ag Labs and mill workers who are reality for most of us, but each programme concentrating on say week 1 - births, marriages and deaths, 2 - census's, 3 - parish records, 4 - wills and probate, 5 - military history and 6 - making the best use of the resources available, i.e records offices, local history societies, libraries etc.

This was done many years ago by Gordon Honeycombe ITV presenter who also wrote a book about how he went about his research.

Jean

[acceber]

Have you seen this site:

Roots TV

What a great idea! A UK version would be good 

acceber

[Highweek]

This was done many years ago by Gordon Honeycombe ITV presenter who also wrote a book about how he went about his research.

Jean

Jean

My goodness, was that an old series or television programme?  I last remember seeing Gordon Honeycombe reading the news, when I was a youngster!

Sounds like it should be updated (the sources of finding the information) and repeated 

[Lydart]

Not sure I like the American-ness of that programme .. lots of us do have family who have gone to other countries, but there's something about American programmes that makes me cringe and my hair curl (wish it would !)

I'm quite happy with the BBC ... they make some very good stuff ... family history, social history,etc.    And they are BRITISH !!