Words by: Jennifer Rodger and Tricia MartinYou’re a baddie, Daddy!
WHO DO YOU THINK
YOU ARE? Mon 9pm BBCA
family rift is set in
motion in the first Who
Do You Think You Are?
episode to feature more
than one member of a family.
‘I’m going to have to sever
ties with you,’ Jack Whitehall
tells his dad Michael, ‘...and
focus on Mummy.’
He has discovered a
horrifying ancestral link on
his father’s side with the brutal
treatment of working-class
rebels fighting for the right to
vote. Michael’s three-times
great-grandfather Thomas
Phillips was a Tory mayor who
chased down a leader of the
Chartist movement, John Frost,
and put him in jail. Frost had
been involved in the Newport
Rising in South Wales, when
thousands of protesters
marched on the Westgate
Hotel, where a group of
Chartists were being held
prisoner. The constables and
soldiers opened fire, killing 22people and injuring 50 more. It
was the biggest loss of civilian
life inflicted by the Army on
British soil in the 19th century.
‘So our ancestor is directly
responsible for the arrest of the
great Welsh hero of the Chartist
Movement,’ Jack says to his
father. ‘All your ancestors were
wrong ’uns. I’m sure Mummy
has really nice ancestors.’
It’s an amazing story that
puts the Whitehalls firmly in
British history. They also learn
of secret millions and how
syphilis ruined a childhood.
It’s a cracking episode of
the family history series.Jack Whitehall is
shocked when he
finds out his dad
Michael’s ancestor
had a role in a 19th
century atrocity –
and he wasn’t one
of the good guys
Michael with his
parents Nora and
Jack in the Fifties■ Jack has two actor
godfathers, Nigel Havers
and the late Withnail and
I star Richard Griffiths.
■ When Jack appeared on
Top Gear in 2014, driving on
their test track, he had only
driven a car once before.
■ Jack auditioned for the
film role of Harry Potter but
didn’t impress the casting
agent – having not read
any of the books.
■ Jack has joked about
missing out on the best roles
in school plays... to fellow
pupil Robert Pattinson,
who went on to star in the
Twilight movies.Comedian and actor Jack
is almost as interesting
as his ancestors...And you are?
TV REALITY
SATURDAY MAGAZINE 13