Who Do You Think You Are?

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Season 22
8 episodes

History

Summary

More famous faces embark on journeys researching their family trees, uncovering surprising facts about their past and the roles their families played in shaping British history.

Episode 7: Will Young

Summary

Will Young takes a journey into his family history, beginning with his grandfather, who died before the singer was born. A PoW during the Second World War, Digby Young's story turns out to be one of bravery and hardship during the conflict. Will then delves further back and discovers he is related to one of English history's great villains - and through this ancestor he reveals a surprising royal link

Review

Jane Rackham

Singer and actor Will Young is desperate to discover he’s a Viking. But while that doesn’t happen, he does have some extraordinary ancestors. He’s stunned to learn how wrong his family’s recollections were of his quiet grandfather Digby, an RAF pilot who was a PoW for several years. Digby was a remarkable man, he concludes, and there’s a lot they should be proud of.

Incredibly, Will’s line is then traced back to the 12th century (“There’s a lot of sirs,” he comments when he sees his extensive family tree) to Hugh Le Despenser, a “monster of a man” who suffered the worst possible death. Then Will makes an even more astounding discovery.

How to watch

Next showing

There are no live broadcasts scheduled for this show. But it is available via the streaming provider below.

Streaming

BBC iPlayer

Details

Released on

2025-06-03

Languages

Formats

Colour

Credits

Crew

rolenameParticipantWill YoungNarratorPhil DavisDirectorAndy HallProducerHenry Ajayi WardExecutive producerColette FlightSeries producerLucy Swingler

All episodes

Episode 8

Diane Morgan

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Episode 7

Will Young

Summary

Will Young takes a journey into his family history, beginning with his grandfather, who died before the singer was born. A PoW during the Second World War, Digby Young's story turns out to be one of bravery and hardship during the conflict. Will then delves further back and discovers he is related to one of English history's great villains - and through this ancestor he reveals a surprising royal link

Review

Jane Rackham

Singer and actor Will Young is desperate to discover he’s a Viking. But while that doesn’t happen, he does have some extraordinary ancestors. He’s stunned to learn how wrong his family’s recollections were of his quiet grandfather Digby, an RAF pilot who was a PoW for several years. Digby was a remarkable man, he concludes, and there’s a lot they should be proud of.

Incredibly, Will’s line is then traced back to the 12th century (“There’s a lot of sirs,” he comments when he sees his extensive family tree) to Hugh Le Despenser, a “monster of a man” who suffered the worst possible death. Then Will makes an even more astounding discovery.

How to watch

Next showing

There are no live broadcasts scheduled for this show. But it is available via the streaming provider below.

Streaming
- BBC iPlayer
Details

Released on

2025-06-03

Languages

Formats

Colour

Credits

Crew

rolenameParticipantWill YoungNarratorPhil DavisDirectorAndy HallProducerHenry Ajayi WardExecutive producerColette FlightSeries producerLucy Swingler

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Episode 6

Fred Sirieix

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Episode 5

Aisling Bea

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Episode 4

Layton Williams

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Episode 3

Ross Kemp

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Episode 2

Mishal Husain

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Episode 1

Andrew Garfield

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