Dumbstruck in Dumfries: I discovered my Scots great gran was a hussy
This had the makings of a disaster. The BBC's long-running genealogy show had chosen as its subject one Diane Morgan.
As her alter ego Philomena Cunk, Morgan has made her name lampooning the likes of WDYTYA, with its talking head experts and presenters who go on 'journeys'. Her sitcom, Mandy, once referenced a show called Who Are You, Do You Think? ('Not as good as Danny Dyer's but still all right').
I know WDYTYA has been a bit boring lately - frankly, some of the 'celebrities' have been human sleeping tablets - but come on, wasn't this a case of TV eating itself? As Morgan said: 'I never thought in a million years you'd actually ask me to be on it.'
Bolton born and bred and now living in Bloomsbury (nice), Morgan had three aims: to learn more about her Aunty Ginny's fiance, Albert Dugdale, who died in the First World War; to trace her Scottish roots in Dumfries; and to find out the identity of 'German Charlie', the stuff of family legend.
As she suspected, Morgan's journey was far from glam. She travelled on buses and suburban trains to small town libraries, all the while supplying her own self-deprecating commentary. 'Can I pretend to pay cos I'm with the film crew?' she asked a bus driver.
There was a lot of weaving in her background. German Charlie's story was part of that history and wasn't terribly interesting unless you were into chimneys.
Aunty Ginny, Morgan discovered, lived near the rest of the family in Bolton, as many of her generation did. That didn't set the heather on fire either. But Dumfries and Morgan's four times great-grandmother Isabella? Now you're talking.
Isabella turned out to have had five children to four different fathers. History could relate this because she had taken all the absent fathers to court for child support. As a result, a record of her existence existed - a rarity for a woman, even more so someone who was working class.
Young Diane at home in Bolton with her family (Image: PHOTOGRAPHER:Diane Morgan)
Between the lines there was obvious sadness. One record said Isabella had been known to the local lads as 'an improper character'.
'I thought you were going to tell me I was related to Robert the Bruce or Robert Burns, one of the Roberts,' said Morgan. 'Instead my great, great, great grandmother was a bit of a hussy.'
For fear of spoilers I'm not going to say what happened next in Dumfries, or how Morgan got on tracing Albert Dugdale's family to give them the 'death penny' that had been kept safe in her family. If you haven't seen the show you are in for a treat.
Morgan's WDYTYA probably isn't destined for the hall of fame. But the very ordinariness of the people we learned about was what made them special. They weren't kings or queens or captains of industry or explorers, they did dull jobs and lived in terraced houses, but they were here once, and their lives mattered.
Whoever decided Diane Morgan would be a good pick for WDYTYA should be given a pay rise. This could have been a disaster; instead it was a triumph.
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