Series 20 line-up revealed

Chris Ramsey and Emily Atack have delved into their family histories for the next series of Who Do You Think You Are?

BBC One’s genealogy show returns for its 20th series next month, with nine new episodes.

Also looking into their family trees are Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Claire Foy, Bear Grylls, Kevin Clifton, Dev Griffin, TV doctors Chris & Xand van Tulleken and Mum star Lesley Manville.

Producers Wall to Wall Media have teased some of the stories uncovered.

They say Atack – whose mum is actress and comedian Kate Robbins – ‘discovers that she, Ryan Reynolds and a certain football club have a lot more in common than she might ever have guessed’

And of Ramsey, they say the comedian ‘comes to realise that the saying "you make your own luck" might be one of the most apt phrases applied to his family’s past as he discovers some extraordinary survival stories and an ancestor who won a very unusual lottery.’

Simon Young, the BBC’s head of history, says: ‘As one of Britain’s most beloved documentary series approaches 20 years on our screens, the line-up of household names, and the array of astonishing family histories, grow from strength to strength.

‘This series is often imitated but never bettered, and this latest edition demonstrates why."

Executive producer Colette Flight added that the celebrities will ‘uncover incredible, moving and dramatic stories’.

Published: 5 May 2023