New ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ to launch with Vicky McClure

The new series of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ will launch with Vicky McClure, airing Thursday 15 August at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Actor Vicky McClure, known to millions for her role as Detective Inspector Kate Fleming in Line of Duty, is now turning her investigative skills to uncover mysteries within her own family tree.

Vicky begins her journey by exploring the life of her late grandmother on her father’s side, Nonna Jean. She knows that Jean was given up by her family as a child and is determined to understand why. From Jean’s birth certificate, Vicky discovers that she was born in Grimsby to parents Ruby Winifred and Thomas Compton. In Grimsby, Vicky learns that Thomas worked as a steward on a steamship and had three children before Nonna Jean was born. However, after examining Thomas’s movements from shipping records, Vicky realizes that he was in Canada at the time Jean would have been conceived, raising doubts about whether he was her biological father.

Curious if this could be the reason Jean was given up, Vicky follows a lead to Nick, the son of Jean’s older half-sister. When Vicky meets Nick, she finds out that his mother never mentioned having a half-sister. However, Nick has letters from his grandparents that shed light on their lives. As Vicky reads through them, she learns that the couple was struggling financially even before Jean was born, and there are hints that Thomas may have discovered Ruby, Vicky’s great-grandmother, had an affair. Knowing her grandmother endured hardship with her foster parents but grew up to be a loving mother and grandmother, Vicky is relieved to have uncovered the truth about why Jean was given up.

Vicky then turns her attention to another family story involving her mum’s grandfather, Harry Millership, her great-grandfather, who died as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War Two. Vicky’s mum, Carol, has a small black-and-white photo of a wooden cross marking Harry’s grave and believes it is somewhere in Japan. Vicky also learns that Harry was a coal miner in Yorkshire before the war.

To delve deeper into Harry’s life, Vicky meets former miner Pete Wordsworth at one of the last remaining pits in Yorkshire. Census records reveal that Harry began working in the mines at age 14, enduring dark and dangerous conditions for about 18 years before the outbreak of World War Two.

To uncover what happened to Harry during the war, Vicky consults Dr. Yasmin Khan, who shows her Harry’s service record. In late 1941, Harry was sent to Singapore with his regiment. Just a month after his arrival, the Japanese attacked, and by mid-February 1942, the British forces had surrendered. Harry was among the 130,000 prisoners of war taken by the Japanese, and Vicky is shocked to learn that he was transported from Singapore to a POW camp in Taiwan.

Determined to trace her great-grandfather’s steps, Vicky travels over 6,000 miles to Taiwan. Feeling far from her home in Nottingham, she reflects on the harrowing journey her great-grandfather must have endured. In Taiwan, she meets historian Aaron Moore near Keelung Port, where Harry and other POWs disembarked after a horrific journey from Singapore. Aaron explains that the men were packed into an airless hold with little food or water, and some died from dysentery. Vicky then learns that Harry was forced to work in a copper mine under inhumane conditions.

Vicky visits the now-abandoned mine and hears how Harry died, falling ten meters down a hole in the mine. Deeply moved, she takes some solace in the fact that his death was likely quick, sparing him prolonged suffering in the brutal conditions of the mine.

Vicky concludes her journey at a war memorial, where she finds her great-grandfather’s name inscribed among many others. Despite the emotional toll of her discoveries, Vicky expresses profound pride in her great-grandfather and acknowledges how life-changing the experience has been.