Eight of Australia’s largest celebrities, media personalities and leisure stars have put themselves – and their household heritages – within the highlight for the 14th season of Who Do You Assume You Are?
Since its inception on SBS in 2008, the present has traced the genealogies of a complete of 96 excessive profile Australians, uncovering some emotional, heart-wrenching and pleasant moments alongside the best way.
“Put together to be delighted by Barry Humphries’ quest to show he is essentially the most fascinating particular person in his household… and moved as Derryn Hinch lastly uncovers the long-suppressed identification of his mom’s father,” says Bernadine Lim, SBS’s commissioning editor for documentaries.
‘We do not know the place Barry got here from’
Iconic comic, satirist and creator Barry Humphries, 89, greatest identified for writing and taking part in his on-stage and tv alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, options in episode one.
He investigates a royal scandal in his father’s ancestry [his grandfather emigrated to Australia from the UK] and unravels the good thriller of his maternal household historical past, in keeping with SBS.
“My mom used to say, in blended firm, ‘We do not know the place Barry got here from’… Properly, I started to assume, the place did I come from?,” he says, having been raised in Melbourne’s suburban Camberwell earlier than embarking on a lifetime of satire and humor.
Assured he is essentially the most fascinating particular person in his household tree, Humphries is on a quest to be confirmed unsuitable.
Entertainer and present enterprise veteran Rhonda Burchmore, 62, additionally headlines the brand new sequence, and discovers the reality concerning the maternal grandfather she by no means knew.
On her father’s aspect, she discovers the story of an entrepreneur who left an incredible legacy to the individuals of Sydney.
“It is like essentially the most great reward – and an sudden reward, discovering out a lot extra concerning the historical past of your loved ones,” she says.
Commentator, “human headline” and former Senator Derryn Hinch, 79, described his expertise as a rollercoaster.
“It has been taxing, however it’s been splendidly taxing. It is torn on the heartstrings. And I’ve found issues which were fairly a revelation,” he stated.
‘It is about household’
Comic Peter Helliar, 47, most just lately an everyday on Ten’s The Venture earlier than resigning late final 12 months, has settled into the African jungle for this 12 months’s installment of I am A Superstar … Get Me Out Of Right here!
Earlier than he left, the passionate Australian Guidelines Soccer supporter was certain to search out out extra about the place he got here from.
Throughout the digging, SBS says they uncovered a narrative of a maternal ancestor deeply traumatized by his expertise throughout World Conflict 1 at Gallipoli.
On his father’s aspect, there’s some Irish heritage and a “thrilling” hyperlink to an AFL pioneer.
“I actually love AFL. It is my blissful place and I usually thank my dad for passing that onto me. My entire household is Collingwood. We actually go to the soccer each week, and we like it.
Footy to me means many issues, but when I used to be actually to get to the guts of it, it is about household”.
Journalist Jenny Brockie discovers some stunning secrets and techniques hidden in her mom’s household tree, and goes on an emotional journey to unravel the thriller of her father’s ancestry.
“The irony of my occupation is just not misplaced on me on this scenario, and I do not assume it is a coincidence in any respect. It (my occupation) was most likely additionally a means of avoiding my very own story,” she says.
World-renowned choreographer and creative director Stephen Web page has lengthy been inquisitive about mom Doreen’s ancestry.
Born to a white father, Doreen suppressed her indigenous identification to outlive racism in 1950s Australia. He takes half in an emotional and sudden journey, making a sequence of peculiar and shifting revelations alongside the best way.
The final two episodes uncover the tales behind movie, tv, and stage actor Kerry Armstrong, 64, and actor and musician John Waters.
Armstrong was confronted with a deeply shifting private loss whereas Waters explores his household’s historical past, embracing working class radicals in his father’s household and discovering a maternal ancestor on the coronary heart of colonial Caribbean historical past.
“One of many disappointing issues concerning the household tree performed by my uncle
that I had researched is that it was a reasonably misogynistic factor, and solely adopted the male line backwards, and ladies simply pop in, have youngsters, after which disappear once more.
“I am fascinated with all the ladies that type an equal a part of who I’m, about whom only a title has been written on a bit of paper prior to now,” he says.
All eight celebrities traveled the world over in a “journey that leads them again residence, and to a greater understanding of themselves”, says SBS.
Who Do You Assume You Are? ppremieres Could 2 at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand
