Who Do You Think You Are ?

Yes I was a bit disappointed. Like you said it was interesting but they only went back 2 generations. I find it more interesting the further back they dig.

I agree, I was bored after the first 20 minutes, so didn't see the end. Apologies to Brendan for that, but I do feel these programmes should offer more than two generations, delving deeper is more interesting, I think.

I've stopped watching this programme.

So have I, Aka. I liked it when it took a broad sweep of the family history on both sides, but now it is just about one or two people deemed interesting by the production team. Very boring imo.

Exactly.

Yes, I've noticed that recently they only focus on one or two ancestors. It is interesting but I always enjoyed the way you went from generation to generation trying to understand what determined their movements or behaviour. And looking at old documents always had my full attention.

I gauge my interest in the television by how complicated my knitting is. I think WDYTYA will be 'watched' whilst doing my most complicated in future. I would switch it off but my DH enjoys it.

Bored after the first 20 minutes always used to love it but now am getting a bit disappointed by the focus

I avoided this program as I don't like seeing Mrs Brown as a man!

Have recorded last night's show so haven't seen it yet but I agree that the focus appears to have changed to only go back as far as three or four generations. I was really looking forward to finding out where Brian Blessed's surname originated, but we never found out, did Brian I wonder?

Me too, another who feels this programme is no longer worth watching.
Didn't bother with this new series or the last one.

I love this programme so much I have watched most of the British, American and currently watching some new Australian episodes. Some are much more interesting than others. I remember looking forward to watching one of the Gibb brothers trace his ancestors. I was quite disappointed when they didn't go any further than an ancestor who worked in a mill and most of the show was about weaving.

I agree that last night's programme was slightly different from some of the others, in that they concentrated only on Brendan's grandfather, and didn't look at his family tree at all.

I do think that what they dug out however was fascinating and awful in equal measures and gave him an answer to a conundrum he had never had an answer to. At the same time gave the viewer an insight into some of the injustices the British Army inflicted on the indigenous Irish population.

The programme can only be as interesting as the subject under investigation some are quite dull. I think a lot of well known people have been turned down because there simply isn't anything to pull out of their family tree that would make worthwhile viewing.

It's been going quite a while but a few episodes do stand out. One being Alistair McGowan's. He really did go on "a journey" to use that well worn cliche. He had now idea he had Indian roots, it was only after his father's death that he found out that he was Anglo Indian and his search concentrated on that side of the family. He managed to get back a couple of hundred years to an Irish ancestor who went to India in the 18th century and married an Indian woman. I remember him summing up saying something along the lines of "I thought as my name suggests I had Scottish roots now I find I'm Paddy Patel!"

Just my take on last night's WDYTYA, Terribull. It was interesting to see how those anonymous hitmen eventually turned out to be a British intelligence officer who had killed someone in a hotel using the same method, and a local journalist had given covert messages in his reports, enabling it to be followed up all those years later. Different, but still fascinating to watch.

They seem to have changed the format from previous series. I said to DH last night 'they just concentrate on one person from the past now, whereas they used to delve into several of the ancestors' lives'. Shame really.

I did enjoy this programme when research was done on maternal and paternal sides of the family and went back a few generations.

I don't watch it now.

I really enjoyed last night. It was a real detective story with all sorts of twists and turns. I was pleased to learn a little about Irish history which to date I have found somewhat confusing.

It was amusing to see Brendan with his wife who plays a daughter and his sons one of whom is also in Mrs Browns Boys in what appeared to be a HUGE kitchen!

One of my favourites was Colin Jackson. It was amazing when they analysed his blood and found several differen races in there that he hadn`t known about, including native American Indian!

Definitely not as good this series, I thought Tamsin Outhwaite was awful

It used to be much more interesting; I have not bothered to watch this latest series because of the concentration on one ancestor who is often not in the very distant past. It is of no value to family history researchers whatsoever, only of interest if the celebrity is someone who appeals to you.

Whoever decided to change the format should have changed the title of the programme at the same time.
'Who Do You Think You Are' makes you think of delving into a couple of centuries of history or more to find your lineage and discover some real surprises along the way.

Terribull
At the same time gave the viewer an insight into some of the injustices the British Army inflicted on the indigenous Irish population.

But surely that isn't the point of the programme; that could be covered by an entirely different series (and probably has been by the BBC).
There is so much information available out there to enable the BBC to delve back centuries and find lots of very short but fascinating anecdotes about these celebrities' ancestors.

The point of the programme is for people to find out about their ancestors.
Those who have stopped watching missed something incredibly interesting to do with this country and how it treated the Irish at the beginning of the last century. Yes, it could have been in a differnt sort of programme, but it wasn't. It was about O'Carroll's grandfather. What I found very brave of him was the amount of information he found out himself just by looking at newspapers. This is an area of genealogy that is sometimes overlooked.
I am sure we all know bits about Irish history and the IRA. To find out that Michael Collins was mentioned in the reports is interesting.
If it had not been for O'Carroll worrying away at what he knew, he would never have found out what really happened to his grandfather.
Surely that's what this series is really about. He was visibly upset when he found out that the man who shot his grandfather had been unpunished, as any of us would have been, I hope.

Who was he surrendering his sons to? There were three times as many British killed during this time as there were Irish. Not that any war is good. It did skirt round why his grandfather was shot though and what connection, if any, he had with Sinn Fein and the IRA. If anyone can enlighten me on more facts about this then I would be grateful. Thanks.

I am another who has stopped watching the programme because it doesn't do what the title suggests anymore; that is trace ancestors. It just takes one person in the subjec'ts history and tells their story.

No matter how interesting, telling or amazing that story, the programmes is no longer doing what it says on the tin.

I think the posters who have stopped watching have made several very good points, although I found Brendan O'Carrol's programme quite gripping. BUT my objection to the new format is that the producers have gone in for engineering the high emotion. Some participants in the past have found the kind of family circumstance that would make anyone weep. Now the programme makers seem to engineer the encounters to produce the odd sob or sniffle. Like Bake Off and so many other so-called reality programmes, the content is intrinsically interesting, it doesn't need to be made so by stupid stunts!