General Chat

This programme used to be a must-see for me but recently I have come to suspect that the "Celeb" cult rather than true genealogical research has become the reason for the series. The BBC's treatment of Sir Michael Parkinson has just confirmed this. He has been told that after 6 weeks research his story will not be screened because "there is nobody interesting in his antecedants". It seems that all the researchers found were miners, farm workers and domestic servants and this was not considered good television.
My own ancestry is the same as Sir Michael's, "ordinary" people. I am back to the 1600's on both sides of my tree and have not found any famous person, royal link or moneyed ancestors but that makes no difference to me, I think all the Farm Labourers, Millers, Miners, Railway workers, Servants, Soldiers, Sailors, etc. in my tree are wonderful and I am sure Sir Michael feels the same.
I will not be watching in future, spare me from the glee as a millionaire celeb is told he or she is related to a French count or the false tears when they are told that an ancestor died in the workhouse.
WDYTYA is not genealogy, it is "historical reality TV".

I find it rather sad that we wont get to see history of Michael Parkinson as its often the ones with the normal sort of history that are of interest as I feel that most of us can relate to that. I do hope the BBC at least pass on their research to Michael as I'm sure it will still be very interesting to him

That is sad as I am sure more viewers can relate to Ag labs than royalty etc. But BBC is losing all credibility as far s I am concerned, what with its get read of older people and we must attract the young views. why must they attract the young? as far as I can tell the young don't watch TV anyway but older people do and in families it is the older people who pay the licence fee not the younger members of the families.

I agree Blackrose and Ann, I also find it sad. I am sure that serious genealogy buffs like you and I would find the story of Sir Michael's rise to eminence from humble working class stock fascinating.

I am sure the BBC have given him the research findings and I am sure he is very proud of his ancestry, despite having no royal or famous connections.

Nevertheless, the BBC have lost the plot, they once led the world in innovative TV research but have now squandered this position in a "dumbing down" chase after ratings.

We could all write to the BBC and express our feelings about this.
They might not know unless we tell them, that we are as interested in ordinary folk as the ones with an apparently 'interesting' background.
I, for one, would be interested to see Michael Parkinson's family history because it is about HIM and HIS history, no matter who his ancestors were!!
Who is to say what's interesting and what's not. Certainly not the BBC, who seem to get it so wrong very often these days about what the viewer wants.

K

I enjoyed the first couple of series when it was on BBC2 - there was a good mix of 'traditional' backgrounds and 'exotic' ones! I haven't watched it for ages as, for me, the death knell sounded when it moved to BBC1 and just became another celeb vehicle.

it also sounds as if Michael had English ancestry (like a few of us on here) and that seems to be out for WDYTYA. if you haven't got overseas links - or at least one of the other home Countries - then they ain't interested. ok, Davina's french heritage was interesting last week and I know that a lot of you have Irish and will love Chris Moyles this week, but most of us have to start in England (some of us don't go anywhere else lol) so a programme that uses English sources (maybe wills, parish registers, court records etc) would be so helpful.

anyway, I will continue watching cos I do like to see the story unfold, but I would still like something that relates more to my own tree :-)

Maz. XX

I agree, all those 'ordinary' men and women lived 'interesting' lives to me in that life was so different to the way we live now.

Also everyone, no matter how humble their employment or status lived through periods of interest; wars, changes in the democratic process (voting etc) , periods of emigration or immigration, the industrial revolution and so on..

Easy to make an informative and entertaining programme out of that I would say!

xx

I see I've been beaten to it. I started a thread on general topics with the following:

I see from a news item on AOL today that the Beeb have axed a proposed episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring Michael Parkinson because his ancestors are too boring.
Well, those of us who are well into our family histories know that perhaps 99% of the time the details we find are "boring" - except that they're not. They may be "ordinary" but they give us a fascinating insight into the everyday lives of our ancestors.
Don't be fooled by the bright lights and glamour of celeb shows.

Thanks, blackrose for directing me here.

Allan C,

Sorry to steal your thunder, I did not see your post.

And Sheila, how I agree with you, its just another "Celeb" show now. Why don't they do Joe or Josephine Bloggs, I always find the ordinary story to be the most fascinating.

One of the most interesting finds in my own ancestry was when I discovered in the 1851 census that my Gt Gt Grandfather was working as a miller in Kent. I found the cottage he and his family lived in, (it is now part of a yuppy dwelling of course), and 400 yards away, I found the crumbling foundations of the mill itself.

Boring? You must be joking, I stood there and my imagination took me back 160 years. I could see the horse drawn wagons bringing in the corn and taking the flour away down the dusty dirt road.

I could also see the sweat on the workers as they laboured through their 12 hour day, seven days a week.

Ordinary people with ordinary lives are interesting
They were also the main stay of this country and many died for it in wars through out the generations
I have now got the service records of my grandfather and two of his brothers
All were in the Marine Light Infantry
I found all the ships they were on and have photos of them
No wonder Parky isnt happy to have the program axed
It would make a nice change to see the lives of ordinary folks done , just for a change from the rich and famous connections

I am afraid we have no chance of returning to the ordinary. Today it is all about 'celebs' and there is nothing we can do to stop it. I would have loved to have learned about Sir Michael's mining ancestors.

Shame, WDYTYA was a great programme at first, but it has now degenerated to a TV cult show instead of serious genealogical research.

I for one will no longer be watching.

Must admit I have not watched them all
Got fed up with them long ago
They also give the impression it is easy to trace people,and they give no idea of the costs involved or the travelling which some wont be able to afford these days
I believe it gives the whole idea of tracing your family tree the wrong impression to people.

Now that is a shame, because without finding the 'ordinary' people, those watching this and being encouraged to do their own research, will believe they will find money or fame in their own ancestors, instead of they ag labs and miners and other low-paid working class families.

Thats a real shame. My family is the same, all ag-labs bar the odd one or two who managed to better themselves slightly by becoming station masters or policemen in the 1800s

Maybe we should all write to the BBC saying this is the reality of genealogy, and these 'uninteresting' ancestors are people to be just as proud of.

I am sure Michael Parkinson would be proud to have come from mining stock..as much as he would be if he were from aristocracy. His feet are still firmly on the ground in spite of years of fame, he's proud to be a Yorkshireman, why wouldn't he be proud of the reason he's a Yorkshireman?

I agree Teresa
Most of us have the ag labs and servants in our trees
A lot of mine worked on the first railways in London as pointsmen,guards or porters
They all had a hand in shaping this country, dont see why they should be ignored

I am disappointed that they are not going further back as in the first series, It seems now they find someone who had an interesting life, and just concentrate on that person.
I liked it when they went right back to the 1700's, and it was really interesting then.
The Davina McCall one last week was so boring, I started dong a cross word puzzle.


Mo

They are being ignored Mo because of the dumbing down which is so common nowadays in all things.

It started with 'Reality shows'. When one of the first began, Castaway, set on a Scottish Island I thought it would be a fascinating study in survival.

Within half an hour of watching the first programme, (the selection process), I realised that it was not about survival, it was about confrontation and 'interesting' TV. The candidates were not chosen for their community skills, they were deliberately picked for there diverse personalities.

We had an upper class family, a foul-mouthed bigot, two gays, a token coloured family, a religious family, a vegetarian family, etc. etc. You could tell that they would clash and so it proved, I watched about 20 minutes of the first programme and then I switched off.

Same principal today with Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity....they are chosen for the confrontation factor.

And TV channels wonder why their viewing numbers are dropping
lol

I agree with everyones postings about this program.

The 1st series or two of WDYTYA. Originally was about tracing the families of ordinary folks. I found this fascinating, even though at some point in the program it would reveal that he or she is some distant cousin of a celeb.........Which was fair enough, as you never know what you might find when tracing your family tree.

Then the program started tracing family trees of celebs. Bar one or two, I found the program a complete turn off. As it increasingly focused on the celeb themselves.

Because of this, I don't watch it anymore. Its a shame. If it was done in th original format, then for me it would be a really good program to watch.

Steve

So, it seems there is a need to write to the BBC and express these views, and maybe send them a copy of this thread to show how we feel.

What do you think?

K