who do you think you are

Just caught up with Derek Jacobi episode

Thank goodness at least one episode was interesting.

I was starting to give up hope of carrying on with the series to be honest. The early series were far better and really were interesting but this one and the last series are not as interesting by a mile thus far .

What surprises me is just how well connected to fascinating and famous people everyone is on Who Do You Think You Are? Derek Jacobi was from a poor area but connected to Kings! Amazing.

My lot were farm hands, shoemakers, house maids and such like. My husband's lot were Welsh gentry so he goes to newspaper sites and there they are.

We must have been what they call 'salt of the earth'......Such is life.

I lost interest in this series a while ago but did watch a couple of the people I particularly like - Derek Jacobi and Gareth Malone. That is to say I watched all of the DJ one - which put me off DJ - and a little of the GM one - which I found boring and gave up on.

I don't think I'll bother with it now.

The only programmes I remember enjoying from past series were the David Suchet and David Dickinson ones.

Excellent tonight. Anne Reid's very likeable but I'm not as impressed by her ancient relative as she was. He sounds a nightmare. His poor wife and children.

She seems quite a feisty lady herself! I loved it when she got the gilggles - makes a change from tears.

I found the history of transportation and what happened to the convicts very interesting.

The researchers seemed a bit taken aback by her reaction, particularly when she said all he did was forge a signature. His father-in-law's?

I don't warm to Anne Reid at the best of times (!) and realised tonight how typecast she is in Last Tango. I found her incredibly naive and surprisingly ignorant about crime and punishment in the 19th century. "Would the courtroom have looked like this?" she asked, well, apart from the layout, electric lighting, seating, the windows and decor. . . . .
Her reaction to the judge and jury ("I hope they all died horrible deaths") also frankly appalled me. OK punishment was appallingly hard in those days, but that wasn't necessarily something to lay at the door of individuals. Anyone of our generation with any knowledge of history will be aware of the hardships of transportation, but it all seemed new to her.
These are the steps he would have walked up, this is where he would have stood, etc etc , it's all getting a bit hackneyed and as a programme WDYTYA has lost its edge for me. Still fascinated by family history, but there is a focus on the "tear jerking" which does not feel right to me.

I actually did watch it tonight because I really like Anne Reid as an actress and I wanted to see if her rather frosty response to winning, what was it, Gransnet woman of the year or something? was because she didn't like being labelled in such a way.

I'm so glad I watched. One of the best I've ever seen. I thought her growing hilarity as she read the original disciplinary reports about her g. g. grandfather was hilarious. The various experts didn't seem to know quite how to respond to her emotionality. It was great - and a very interesting story too.

Agree with you Alea.
Isn't it strange how people differ.I thought Ann come over as a really nasty person.

We thought this episode was very interesting, I don't think they've done one with a transported ancestor before. But Anne Reid seemed not to realise that John Reid's father-in-law was also her ancestor. Very odd!

Alea: sadly I must agree with you. Very disappointed. Anne Reid seemed to think her ancestor's problem with alcohol and incompetence as a schoolmaster all a great joke. She had no grasp of how his behaviour would have offended the local people and reflected upon his family. Shallow and trivial programme in spite extensive documentary evidence in both Scotland and Tasmania.
This series has really gone off, previous ones were far more thoughtful and interesting.

I was taken a back at how almost nasty she was when talking about the court officials who sentenced her ancestor, particularly as she had laughed at the idea of him being a drunk and causing a public nuisance.
She can't have it both ways.
Yes it was a harsh punishment but that was the awful times they lived in.

I was very impressed by the level of documentation that was available to give such a good a good idea of the story. In Scotland and in Tasmania.

I do agree that her remarks regarding people dying horribly were unpleasant - but I think she was just being "actressy" and flamboyant.

I still think it was entertaining and interesting.

She should not be judged entirely on her role in Last Tango - she is, I think, a very fine actress who has played parts far removed from her Halifax role.

She annoyed me last night. I agree with Alea she came across as naive.
I wanted to slap her when she got the giggles I don't think the historian she was speaking to at the time was amused.
I actually fell asleep towards the end. I've never done that during an episode of WDYTYA I love the programme.

I thought that although it was very interesting in places, (there was some quite factual details about the transportation of criminals,) Anne Reid was rather 'theatrical' about it all. Perhaps she is like that all the time, but it spoilt the story line for me.

I actually found myself shouting at the TV, the man was a drunk and a crook. £49 may not seem a lot now but then it was a lot of money, and to blame his FIL for ruining his life was just stupid. He committed a crime and that was the punishment of the times. She did not even consider how this would reflect on his wife and children, I think someone said his wife had died just one year after he was transported, of shame perhaps.

I found her sympathy for the man rather odd and the condemnation of the man who took in the children and cared for them seemed rather unfair. It also seemed obvious to me that the son, who listed his father as a clergyman on his wedding certificate, had probably never been told about his father and believed he had died.

I thought Anne Reid came across as rather vindictive and unforgiving (my DH said to me 'she's like you' charming! I found the Gareth Malone one rather interesting in that his ancestor founded the Olympia Theatre in Dublin where we have been to concerts in the past.

I agree Alea, she came across as ignorant and nasty!
I thought it was an interesting episode regarding the transportation to Tasmania though.

Am I right in thinking that at the end she said " I'm so proud to be the ancestor of a convict."
Really?

I thought the Gareth Malone one was more interesting as he appeared to be doing much of the research himself, showing people watching how they can do it. I kept trying to see which programmes he was using, rather than looking at the information itself, to see if he was using one that I hadn't used.

She did Lona!! I would have expected them to edit that out and do a retake!!!

Am I right in thinking that at the end she said " I'm so proud to be the ancestor of a convict." Really?

Did you mean because she should have said 'descendant' Lona, or because of her pride at being the ancestor (sic) of a convict?

Having recently spent quite a lot of time with many Australians who were new acquaintances I found they were all extremely proud if their ancestors were convicts. A complete change-around to the shame they used to feel not so long ago!
Especially if they went out on the First or Second Fleet.

However, I did find her reactions to his early drunken life quite puzzling. I suppose one could giggle through sheer amazement/horror though.

And her remark about 'dying a horrible death' was absolutely awful.

roseq Because she should have said 'descendant'!

I did think it was that Lona
Perhaps the producers didn't know the difference either