The celebrity line up for Who Do You Think You Are? in 2021 has been revealed – here’s all you need to know.
The genealogy show returns for a brand new series this autumn on BBC One with a brand new line-up of famous faces from the worlds of TV, sport, music, comedy and dance.
In each episode, a celebrity will be seen tracing their family tree and a host of names have signed up to explore their ancestry in 2021.
Who Do You Think You Are? will air on BBC One from Tuesday, 12 October at 9PM.
Who Do You Think You Are 2021 line up
Josh Widdicombe (12 October)
Amongst his family history, Josh Widdicombe discovers an ancestor cut out of the family fortune and a courtier with intimate access to the King’s commode, whose story ends disastrously during the Civil War. From there it’s a dizzying journey back to Elizabethan and Tudor nobility, culminating in an incredible ancestral line.
Dame Judi Dench (19 October)
Shakespearean actor, movie star and national treasure Dame Judi Dench seizes the chance to find out about her forebears in Who Do You Think You Are? starting with her father, Reginald – who never spoke of his experiences during the First World War. Travelling further into her family history, Judi’s investigations lead her to Denmark and nobility, where to her delight she discovers some incredible Shakespearean links.
Ed Balls
At first, it looks like Ed Balls will uncover an heroic story when he looks into the life of an assistant ship’s surgeon, but the grim reality isn’t quite what he was hoping for. However, he uncovers a more inspiring story when investigating the life of an ancestor who lived through the agricultural depression of the 1820s.
Pixie Lott
Pixie Lott hopes to find the truth of the family story – that she has Italian ancestry from Verona – but the reality isn’t quite what she was searching for. She also learns of her great grandfather’s harrowing experiences in the First World War, along with discovering musical genes on her mother’s side of the family.
Joe Lycett
Comedian and presenter Joe Lycett manages to find humour everywhere, but he discovers a darker family history as he finds out that his two-times-great grandfather was a boy chimney sweep in the 1850s who later joined the Royal Marines and travelled the world, but struggled to process his experiences.
Alex Scott
Alex Scott explores the Jewish ancestry on her mother’s side and learns that her great grandad faced down fascism in London’s East End in 1936. She travels to Jamaica to uncover history on the other side of the family and learns of tremendous hardship and suffering, as well as some uncomfortable and upsetting history.
Joe Sugg
YouTuber, actor and Strictly alumnus Joe Sugg enlists help from his big sister and fellow YouTuber Zoe to explore their family tree. He discovers a great-great-great grandfather who was involved in the earliest days of communication by telegraph, ancestors who fled religious persecution in France and a relative who survived the Great Fire of London.
Who Do You Think You Are? will start on BBC One on 12 October.
You can watch online and stream episodes on catch up via the BBC iPlayer.
Executive Producer for Wall to Wall, Colette Flight, said: “Who Do You Think You Are? is back with another line-up of Britain’s best-loved celebrities exploring their family histories across the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Jamaica.
“The incredible personal stories they unearth of their ancestors’ lives – from royal love triangles to labourers fighting for their rights, from Victorian child sweeps to battling fascists in London’s East end – reflect and illuminate all our collective history.”
