DNA Journey with Ancestry returns this week on ITV1 and ITVX a new celebrity pairing in pursuit of where they came from and ready to unearth secrets from their past in a life-changing and emotional voyage of discovery.
Using advanced DNA technology and genealogy, the duos will unlock hidden secrets from their family trees as they discover amazing revelations about their descendants, fascinating stories of unknown ancestors and meet with newly found relatives that spark deep connections to the past and present.
Best loved actors and close friends, James Nesbitt and Sarah Parish are on their DNA journey to delve into their family histories. Both of them have recently lost parents and they’re on a quest to find close family connections.
Sarah says: “My mum always used to say, ‘Life will never give you anything that you can’t cope with.’ And you kind of go, ‘Yeah, there is nothing that I can’t cope with, nothing.’ I so badly just want to dig a little bit deeper to find out, where did that come from?
“When they’ve gone, you wish for just one more conversation. One more chat. All those things that you really wanted to ask.”
James says: “In a way I wish my mum and dad were here to see me go on the journey but I suppose, in a way, they will be with me in a sense… but also they’re never that far away. If I look into the album of my memory, they’re there pretty bright.”
Sarah says she idolised her inspirational headteacher mum and is amazed to find the source of passion for education dates back to the1800s and her great great grand-uncle. Moved to tears, she finds out that he successfully campaigned to make education possible for every child in Scotland.
Sarah says: “What an incredible man…that is just extraordinary and how this running theme of education and giving back to people runs so strong through the family. And to know he had such a huge part to play in educating. It’s brilliant, what a great man.
“It’s such a shame my mum is not with us anymore because that would have made her life. She would have been so moved.”
Following on from Sarah’s hero in the family, James finds his great grandfather was particularly adept at evading the law, running an illegal pub in Ireland during the late 1800s.
However, it’s not long before glory is restored as the duo visit the battleground of the Somme, in France, which was the scene of James’ grandfather’s heroic last stand before he became a prisoner of war to the Germans in World War One.
The real surprise, however, comes in the revelation that his own father created a written legacy of his grandfather’s experience and donated treasured items to Linen Hall Library in Ireland.
As James reads what his father wrote, he says: “It’s an extraordinary thing to look at. I saw his writing everyday at school. I saw that writing everyday on the chalkboard at school and I would know it from a mile away. I said at the beginning…it would be lovely to be reconnected…with him, and there it is. I’m very grateful.
“I’m overwhelmed. The eight-year-old boy who remembers his grandad with great love and affection probably knew somewhere that he was in the war but he didn’t want to talk about it. I wondered, ‘Was he a hero?’ and I’m delighted that that eight-year-old boy is now sitting in front of you finding out that he was indeed a heroic man.”
DNA Journey with Ancestry airs on Wednesday 23 October 2024, 9:00pm ~ 10:00pm on ITV and ITVX.