ITV's DNA Journey

[Dave]

I watched an episode of this on ITV X last night - mainly because it was about our local hero Johnny Vegas. Well, it was split with somebody called Alex Brooker, of who I was unfamiliar. Anyway, it was entertaining and it gave the participants a few genealogical nuggets of information that they previously didn't know about. I remember Johnny commenting once on record that the makers of 'Who Do You Think You Are' had a quick look for him a few years ago but they couldn't find anything interesting enough to do a full programme.

So anyway, if you didn't watch it (it's still on ITV X) the local press did a few articles about the findings.

Johnny Vegas on his pride after ITV's DNA Journey uncovers his ancestral history

WWW.STHELENSSTAR.CO.UK

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JOHNNY Vegas says he felt an ‘enormous sense of pride’ after confirming his strong St Helens roots on ITV’s DNA Journey.

Light entertainment and so on but if this particular episode was typical of the series then it doesn't really do what it says on the tin. It looks as though they'd just used conventional 'paper trail' records and it had nothing to do with DNA research. Oh well.

 

[kizzy]

I watched it avidly, JV Dad was a neighbour in Portico when I was a child and his grandmother used to sell eggs and potatoes from their council house a few doors away from my childhood home. They had close connections to St Austins school and church too where I went to school.

 

[Dave]

Yeah, he used to live two doors away from me in the early 2000s. I didn't know him except to nod and say 'alright' in passing. At that time I didn't really know what all the fuss was about, but he went on to make one of my all time favourite surreal sitcoms 'Ideal'.

[kizzy]

Not having much interest in comedy I took little notice when he first became known but having those early memories of his family I often read about what he was up to. I discovered there was a different side to his personality (a more vulnerable and human persona than the comedy stuff) which I liked much better. Then I read his book which also reinforced those ideas and even though I never spoke to him I suddenly began to think 'Johnny's ok' 

[RATTY]

Great show, I watched the 2 episodes, this one was lovely, made you proud of St Helens in a funny way and it made me smile. The other was John Bishop, interesting to learn his story, not really a scouser after all lol.