Who Do You Think You Are? The best episodes and revelations, ranked

Times

29-04-2025

It has been more than 20 years since the comedian and conservationist Bill Oddie became the first famous face to have their family tree investigated by the BBC genealogy series. Since then, Who Do You Think You Are? has become a staple of the BBC schedules and over more than 170 episodes has treated its celebrity subjects and viewers to all manner of previously unknown facts about their pasts.
With a new season — which includes episodes with Andrew Garfield and Mishal Husain — upon us, we've decided to look back at some of the most interesting episodes from the past two decades.
From discoveries of royal heritage to revelations about darker characters in their families' past: there have been some truly memorable shows throughout the years.
Here are our top ten episodes, but don't forget to leave your favourites in the comments below.
10. Emma Willis
Most people go on the show hoping to uncover heartwarming family connections, but delving into the past can reveal a troubling legacy. The presenter set out to explore her Birmingham roots and was pleased to discover they run deep: her three-times great-grandfather, James Gretton, was born in the city and counted among the pioneering entrepreneurs who helped to earn it the nickname 'the city of a thousand trades'. So far, so uplifting. But things shifted when her journey took her to Ireland, where she uncovered a darker chapter: her five-times great-grandfather, Richard Fowler of Boggy Meadows, was a Protestant landowner known for brutally assaulting and torturing republican-minded blacksmiths.
Josh Widdicombe at Hever Castle
BBC/STEPHEN PERRY
9. Josh Widdicombe
During his ancestry journey, the comedian uncovered a surprisingly regal lineage. He discovered ties to the Earl of Holland and learnt that his 13-times great-grandmother was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I. But the biggest revelation was that his 12-times great-grandmother was in a 'love triangle' with the queen and that he was related to Anne Boleyn. It was even suggested that he may be directly related to King Henry VIII. He also found out that his 23-times great-grandfather was King Edward I, making him a descendant of French royalty. 'To say it's exceeded my expectations is the understatement of a lifetime,' the comedian said about the show. 'I was just expecting a couple of farmers. It's proper blue blood, isn't it?'
8. Lesley Garrett
The truth about the soprano singer's two-times great-grandfather had long been buried — a tightly held family secret, hidden even from her father. To the outside world, Charles was a local councillor and a respected figure. But within the family, a darker story loomed. According to his son and daughter-in-law, Charles had been responsible for his wife's death. They believed he had deliberately replaced her medication with carbolic acid, which killed her. Although the coroner ruled it an accidental death caused by a medication mix-up, suspicion ran deep. Convinced of foul play, the family severed all ties with Charles and never looked back.
7. Matt Lucas
The comedian went on a mission to explore the history of his beloved late grandmother Margot, who came to the UK in 1939 as a Jewish refugee. In one of the more poignant and moving episodes of the show, Lucas travelled to Berlin and Amsterdam to uncover the hardships and tragedy that befell her and his family as Jews in Nazi Germany before they escaped to safety in the UK. He also stumbled upon an extraordinary connection between his family and the Second World War diarist Anne Frank.
6. Jeremy Paxman
Although this episode didn't offer up the most shocking revelations, it was one of the most interesting and watchable. The Newsnight and University Challenge presenter began the show quite unphased by what he might discover, talking of looking to the future, not the past. It was with this in mind that his reaction to discovering the abject poverty his family in Glasgow had survived only a few generations before was even more moving. 'We just don't know we're born, do we?' he tells the camera in one of the most poignant moments of a series famous for them.
5. Alan Cumming
The award-winning actor and presenter of the American version of The Traitors discovered a fascinating story about his grandfather that was very different from that which he thought he knew. Thomas Darling, his mother's father, had died at the age of 35 under mysterious circumstances while serving in the military in Malaysia. When he began to look into the matter, it appeared that Darling may not have died in an accident as Cumming had first thought, but perhaps had been involved in playing Russian roulette.
4. Judi Dench
Given that she is one of the greatest British actresses, you would have struggled to script the big reveal in her episode. After she learnt that she had roots in Denmark in the 16th century, things took a truly epic twist when it turned out that the great Shakespearean star was descended from people who lived in a castle in the Scandinavian kingdom. Even better, her family could be traced to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, families named in Shakespeare's Hamlet, perhaps explaining Dench's love of the theatre.
Ainsley Harriot discovered his ancestors had accumulated enormous wealth
BBC
3. Ainsley Harriott
The television chef travelled to the West Indies to trace his Caribbean roots, believing he already had a good idea about where he came from, but was shocked to find that his family history wasn't quite as he had thought. He discovered that one of his ancestors was a 'free black woman' who had accumulated enormous wealth, but the biggest revelation came when Harriott was told that his great-great-grandfather James Gordon Harriott had not been a slave but a descendant of a long line of white slave owners.
2. Matthew Pinsent
Although a few celebrities have found royal roots on the show, the former Olympic rower's journey ended up being elevated further — tracing his lineage back to Adam and Eve. At the College of Arms, he discovered rolls that showed his family roots went back to Edward I and William the Conqueror. But there was more: another showed that he could be linked to King David, Jesus, Adam and Eve and, therefore, effectively to God. That's quite the journey.
1. Danny Dyer
The EastEnders and Rivals star's episode began with stories of poverty and workhouses, which didn't much surprise the self-styled Cockney hero. However, things took a dramatic and unexpected turn when historians pulled on a thread that led them back to the court of Henry VIII. His 15-times great-grandfather turned out to be Thomas Cromwell, and following the royal line it turned out he came from a long line of royals including Eleanor of Aquitaine, William the Conqueror and the French king Louis IX. In a show that's all about surprises, it's hard to see how that will ever be topped.