BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 6 Episode #3: Rick Stein

[stoney]

Although I said it wasn't very interesting - I could empathise a little with the sense of public ostracism regarding the German ancestry.

My G-grandmother had to confront the same thing in WW1 when policemen came knocking at her door in Carlisle seeking to have her husband interned because their name was Meyers - apparently a "neighbour" had told the police the family were of German extraction (actually, Heligoland!).

She gave them short shrift and directed them to the cemetery where her husband had been buried 5 years earlier!

Mind you, it didn't stop someone flinging a brick through her shop window!

[Gillg]

Apart from the Fiona Bruce episode, which I found both interesting and entertaining (and I'm not even a fan of hers!), this series had been most disappointing.  There were times when I felt that any one of us Rootschatters could have done better research.  I wonder if the producers are trying to find a "new" angle on the concept - just concentrating on a few family members and not trying to get so far back in time.  When you think of how exciting some of the earlier series were and how thorough  some of the research was, you do wonder if they are running out of ideas.

A big yaaaaawn tonight, I'm afraid.  

Gillg

[Marmaduke 123]

I think the whole genealogy aspect of these programmes has been lost. In this series there has been much more focus on personal issues. Maybe this makes it more appealing to the general public, but the whole idea has been diluted. Not sure I shall watch for much longer.

Anne

[Gillg]

Maybe if we were to take another look at the actual programme title "Who do you think you are?" it could also be intepreted as "Why are you like you are?".  In that case obviously parental influence is the strongest, so deserves more airtime.  But then it's not really a genealogy programme, is it? 

Gillg

[acceber]

I thought it was interesting, not boring, but lacked the genealogical/ancestral element which is key to the series, a bit too stuck in the present and focused on close relatives. (Although saying that, my close relatives are the ones I know least about and would love to know more).

http://www.bbcwhodoyouthinkyouare.com/stories.php?cid=50283 - has some unseen bonus footage, including a letter from Winston Churchill to his maternal Grandfather! Now thats classic WDYTYA! 

acceber

[kez_s]

I was really disappointed in the whole episode and the series itself has not been that great either, for anyone new to researching their ancestry this could put you off.

The whole aspect of the programme seems to have been lost and it's become more like This Is Your Life focusing on the parents of these "celebs" which in truth he could have found out just by talking to a couple of people.

[Roobarb]

I think the whole genealogy aspect of these programmes has been lost. In this series there has been much more focus on personal issues. Maybe this makes it more appealing to the general public, but the whole idea has been diluted.
Anne

I agree that the genealogy aspect has been lost, not sure that it makes it more appealing to the general public though. Family history is continuing to take off in a big way and I think a lot of people will be watching the programme because of that. I nearly fell asleep during the first 45 minutes of the programme! I find it hard to believe that he didn't already know a lot of the information about his parents and grandparents. Nil points from me!

[Gaille]

So far, I think we can say this is the worst episode ever.

I agree.

My dad sat & watched it with me & even he said it was totaly off track - the first 40 minutes just concentrated on his parents and 37 minutes of that was about his dads mental health!, we were both bored with it - the interesting stuff about his grandparents & gt-grandparents seemed to be thrown in & crammed into the last 20 minutes and even dad commented that you can hardly call it 'tracing your family tree if its almost all people you have actually met'! the only people he didnt seem to know about were the missionary gt-grandad & his wife - so since he already knew his grandmother himself he only went back ONE generation.

So far the only programme I would bother to watch again was Fiona Bruce, she did at least seem to be interested in her roots!

We have only carried on watching cos you can bet the time I decide NOT to watch it will have something interesting on ............... tonight I got up & put a load of washing in, tidied the kitchen & brewed up while listening to the talking ............. not exactly riveted to my seat!

Gaille

[Gaille]

I think the whole genealogy aspect of these programmes has been lost. In this series there has been much more focus on personal issues. Maybe this makes it more appealing to the general public, but the whole idea has been diluted. Not sure I shall watch for much longer.

Anne

Well I have two 'vaguely' interested Parents here - I say vaguely in respect that they are interested in what I find, but only in a curious way not in a want to get stuck in & research the records kind of way............

They both usualy sit & watch WDYTYA with em cos they are interested in History, and both love finding out about the past, both social and family history - We were all 3 totaly into the "Victorian Farm".

We just sat & watched tonights programme & both commented that it was gotting less 'family history & tracing roots' and more "what your parents or grandparents did"

Mum actually made a comment that I have seen in Rootschat as well - she recons its time they stopped paying for celebrities who can afford to pay researchers & go & do research anywhere and instead took a 'normal' person & helped them to trace their roots.
lol she recons its far more interesting that we have just tracked her gt-grandad thru every cencus from 1841 to 1911 than finding out about the treatment of mental health in the early 1900s! (lol n gt-grandad was 'only' an Ag Lab)
Now bearing in mind mum is a 'non genealogist'  and she loves reading celeb Biographies etc..................I think that says a LOT about the current series.

Gaille