Secrets from the Workhouse - Episode Guide

In the first episode, Fern Britton is shocked to discover one of her ancestors was dissected for medical research because his family couldn't afford a funeral for him. Brian Cox learns that his great grandfather was branded a malingerer by the workhouse when they refused to believe he was really ill. Barbara Taylor Bradford discovers her grandmother was forced into the workhouse to give birth to two illegitimate children. Kiera Chaplin discovers her grandfather, Charlie, was sent to a school for poor children when his mother was taken away from him and put in a mental asylum.

In the second part of this two-part series author Barbara Taylor-Bradford discovers letters that she has never seen before which explain what happened to her aunts and uncles after they went into the workhouse. Actor Brian Cox finds out how his relations escaped the shadow of the workhouse and went on to lead happy lives. And actress Felicity Kendal is shocked to discover that her great-grandmother was forced into the workhouse after she had an affair.