Sheridan Smith, Julie Walters to feature in new Who Do You Think You Are?

Julie Walters and Sheridan Smith are among the celebrities who will be delving back into their family history for a new series of BBC1's Who Do You Think You Are?

Also looking at their roots will be Mrs Brown's Boys creator Brendan O'Carroll, Billy Connolly and Great British Bake Off star Mary Berry when the programme returns in the summer.

Who Do You Think You Are?, which launched in 2004, will reach its 100th edition during the series.

The line-up of 10 stars is completed by actors Brian Blessed and Martin Shaw, DJ and presenter Reggie Yates, actress Tamzin Outhwaite and model Twiggy.

There will also be an hour-long edition of the programme looking back over the past decade, involving figures who have previously been featured including JK Rowling and Jeremy Paxman, who memorably let down his tough exterior to shed a tear.

Maxine Watson, the BBC's commissioning editor for documentaries, said: "The new series promises to continue to deliver BBC One audiences the laughter, tears and surprising revelations of family ancestry as only Who Do You Think You Are? can."

Leanne Klein, the CEO of production company Wall To Wall Television, said of the series: "The fact that it has inspired so many of us to look into our own family histories too is a sign of its enduring popularity."

 

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.