Friday, February 25, 2011

Kim Cattrall on U.S. WDYTYA?

I watched Kim Cattrall on Who Do You Think You Are?, and found it very emotional, heartbreaking, and moving.  But I noticed that this WDYTYA? show had a different feel than the other shows this season.  Kim was interested in finding out what happened to her grandfather who walked out on her grandmother and three young children.  Her search for her family tree stopped when she solved the mystery of what happened to her grandfather.

I wonder if the different feel to the show was because this same show with Kim Cattrall was shown first on the U.K. version of WDYTYA? on the BBC  last year.  It appears that the voiceover was changed to an American accent, but the entire showed was filmed in England and Canada, unlike the U.S. version of the show where the family tree search has so far always originated in a U.S. city.

As far as I know this is the first WDYTYA? that was first shown on the BBC UK version of the show, and then shown again in the U.S. on NBC.  I think it is a good idea to share shows between countries if that gets us more episodes to watch here.

I also noticed that Kim searched Ancestry.com on the show, but at the end of the show, the credits listed Ancestry.co.uk   Searching the website, Kim found a family tree called the Cattrall family tree - her family tree all filled in.   Didn't quite make sense that it would be called the Cattrall family tree unless there happened to be another Cattrall who had previously done this same hunt for George Baugh. 

But Kim's grandfather, George Baugh, is found in an Ancestry.com family tree called the CROMBIE - BAUGH - ELLIS Family tree.

There was very little research of records on this show.  Just one shocker mailed to her by an off-the camera researcher and a quick scan of  some Durham records   Much of what was found was done by following up on a 30 year old newspaper clipping Kim's mother had saved which led to meeting and speaking with previously unknown family.

I was truly moved by this show, and can't even imagine the pain her mother and aunties felt when they found out what happened to their father.  Even 70 years after being abandoned, their hurt was still raw.

Want to know more about your family? Start your FREE family tree online to enter what you already know about yourself and have Ancestry.com help you find your family story.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Interesting that George was hiding his face in the first picture(peering out from the window). Why do you suppose he was hiding, was it because he had been married before and had an earlier family somewhere else?

Cooper Bryan said...

Climbing back along the branches of a family tree doesn’t always reveal pleasant surprises. I am starting to run into some thorny issues on my own ancestry blog, Boxes in the Attic.http://saintbryantv.blogspot.com/. It’s still quite the adventure!

Cheryl Michigan said...

Why didn't they do Kim Cattrall's grandmother's family line. The show makes it look like all the hardship was the "father's" family's fault. WHAT ABOUT THE MOTHER'S FAMILY??? Shouldn't they have been helping out.
So glad Kim's mom and sister rose above it all. Great job girls.