Season 18 - Episode Guide

Comedian Josh Widdicombe embarks on a rollercoaster ride through his extraordinary family history. After a less than promising start with an ancestor who was cut out of the family fortune, Josh is delighted to discover a courtier with very personal access to King Charles I. From there it's a dizzying journey back to Elizabethan and Tudor nobility, by way of a royal love triangle, through an incredible ancestral line that prompts Josh to ask the expert he meets, 'Be honest. As a historian, are you really jealous?'

Shakespearean actor, movie star and national treasure Dame Judi Dench's journey begins with her father Reginald Dench, who never spoke of his experiences during the First World War, as she tries to find out how he won his gallantry medals. Judi's investigations then take a truly epic turn, leading her to 16th-century Denmark and nobility. Judi also discovers, to her delight, some incredible Shakespearean links.

Presenter and former footballer Alex Scott delves into both sides of her family history. Having known nothing of her Jewish ancestry on her mum's side, Alex is proud to discover that her great grandad was at the Battle of Cable Street in London's East End in 1936, facing down fascist followers of Oswald Mosley. On the other side of her family, Alex's Jamaican grandparents were part of the Windrush generation. Alex travels to Jamaica for the first time in her life, following her beloved nan Philicita's line, and discovers the enormous hardship her great-great-grandmother Henrietta Coombs suffered. Two generations further back, Alex is shaken to learn about another ancestor whose lifetime began during the era of slavery and ended after its abolition.

Comedian and presenter Joe Lycett manages to find humour everywhere, but apart from his Edwardian great grandad – a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of the Buffaloes in Nottingham – Joe uncovers a darker family history. Joe finds out that his two-times-great grandfather Robert Wilkinson was a boy chimney sweep in the 1850s. Joining the Royal Marines, Robert travelled the world; but his involvement in razing villages in China following the Opium Wars leads to alcoholism and a breakdown.

Singer-songwriter and talent show judge Pixie Lott hopes to confirm a family story that she has Italian ancestry from Verona, but instead discovers ancestors battling poverty and hardship in London. On her dad's side, Pixie learns of her great-grandfather's harrowing and surprising experience in the First World War. And, wondering if she has any musical genes, Pixie is delighted to discover three generations of military musicians, whose legacy gives her an opportunity to sing with the band of the Household Cavalry.

YouTuber and actor Joe Sugg uncovers some incredible stories in his family tree, with a little help along the way from fellow social media star and big sister, Zoe. Joe, very aptly, discovers a great-great-great-grandfather who was involved in the earliest days of communications technology – in electrical telegraphs. Pushing further back, he finds seven-times-great-grandparents who fled religious persecution in France, and a goldsmith who survived the Great Fire of London.

Ed Balls, former Labour politician, sequinned Strictly dancer and TV presenter, grew up in a family that wanted to make the world a better place. His mother Carolyn's dementia means she can't share their family history with him, so he sets out to discover what kind of characters his ancestors were. Rumours on his paternal side about a link to Nelson's ship HMS Victory lead Ed to Portsmouth and the story of his great-great-great-grandfather William Dunbar, an assistant surgeon. But as he unravels Dunbar's medical career, he unearths a dark history of abuse and horror at a Kent workhouse. On his mother Carolyn's side, he feels a deep connection with Christopher Green, an agricultural labourer put on trial at Norwich Castle after he stood up to defend his livelihood and community.