Were Parky's ancestors really too boring for WDYTYA?

Am I the only one who seems to support the decision not to make a WDYTYA about Michael Parkinson?

It seems to me that it's Michael Parkinson himself, who is doing most of the complaining that the BBC isn’t making a program about him. Hasn't this guy been on our TV screens enough over the last 40-odd years?

So his family are deemed 'not exciting enough', so what? Personally, I don't think Michael Parkinson, himself, is very exciting either. I have seen a documentary on him, and I found him quite boring, with no personality at all. Apart from one major TV show, Parkinson, which the BBC used to use as a staple in its schedule, Michael Parkinson has a bit of a history in being 'replaced' for younger, more entertaining presenters (TV-am, Desert Island Discs, etc).

Let's not forget, it was because of the guests that people used to watch Parkinson, not for the host. At least Wogan had a bit of a personality.

In 2009, Michael Parkinson attacked the very industry that has made him so much money and berated the 'dumbing down' of TV, but now expects the whole nation to see just how much coal his Uncle Bert could shovel in a day.

Poor Michael must feel that TV needs more people like him on it; perhaps he thinks that the 40 years of him on our screens weren't enough, and we, as public, deserve more of him. Or maybe Michael thinks that if he were back on our televisions, he wouldn't be reduced to doing a one man show around Australia which is nothing short of Michael standing in front of a big screen which shows old clips and pictures of his old shows. A power point presentation on stage! We all know the Billy Connolly and Muhammad Ali stories, Michael, you've told them thousands of times.

The BBC and, more importantly, Wall to Wall Media have obviously come to the decision that a program on Michael Parkinson and his history would not be entertaining enough, for good reasons. Ironically, Michael's moaning and protesting has probably given him more attention than an episode of WDYTYA would have done, just for the wrong reasons. I only hope that The BBC don't bow down to the pressure, because it would be even worse for them to make a program for the wrong reasons. Michael Parkinson is in the very lucky position where he can more than afford to do his own research if he wishes.

About 80% of the population had ancestors who were labourer's and domestics at some point, so why would Michael Parkinson think his stories would be any different.

Or in other words, Michael, just who do you think you are?

I agree with everything said. There are now hardly any tips to help family historians - but wouldn't it be lovely to walk into the records office and have all the correct certificates handed to you there and then! And obviously for no fee ...
The last couple of series have seemed to intimate that EVERYONE will have a famous or import ancestor if you look hard enough - well, it just isn't so! But I am immensely proud of my ancestors, who did nothing out of the ordinary except bring up their families under, in many cases, awful conditions. I would love to see the program go into the social history & conditions of these type of families - just as interesting, but far more relevant, that all the famous ones!
Caroline h

I can't believe this story. How can the programme makers think agricultural labourers and domestic servants are boring. Those are the ancestors most of us have, indeed some still are agricultural labourers!
The mere fact that they survived at all in the conditions that some lived is remarkable. I think the BBC would be surprised how many people would love to see that someone as famous and much loved could have such ordinary ancestors.

I totally agree, I want to see the "boring" ancestors. As good as Davina's programme was, how many of us have "exciting" important or foreign relatives?? All mine have stayed local to the UK with some coming from Ireland in the 1850, so I did find Chris Moyals interesting.

I am starting to lose all interest in the programme and wish it would go back to being a source of help for all us budding genealogists who need a helping hand - and please be honest about where to go for help and cost involved. How many of us can go and see a historian to find out what happened to relatives in wars or work houses?

I have loads of agri labourers and domestic servants and would love to know more about the conditions they lived in (so much so I am doing a GCSE in British Social History).

It is up to the producers to make the programmes interesting. If they don't feel they are able to then maybe it's time for a staffing change, as i'm sure there are many young producers out there who could do a good job!!

Please, Please, Please rethink and show us Parky, he would be great!!!

I would like to hear about Michael Parkinson's ancestors. One of the interesting things about WDYTYA is the background social history that tells you how people lived and the jobs they had etc., and this is just as interesting for ordinary people as for people who had exciting lives or were celebrities. If his family had steady jobs and lived reasonably comfortably, what were the local conditions that allowed that? A creative producer could certainly make an interesting programme. Most people's families are ordinary working people, not famous or infamous, so let us hear about a family like ours.

Why are true Ancestors boring? Yes they have been working people but most of our ancestors are and I think it might have been an oppertunity as well to show more of how to do research and the true facts of getting certificates and information. At the moment on the show it looks as if you just walk into a register office (or telephone) and get a certificate straight away. The same it looks as if you can go anywhere and get a researcher to help you, we all know this does not happen but people just starting could think it does and be very disappointed when it dosen't.

The same on programmes we have seen celebraties walk into churches and go through records. What they don't tell you is that at a lot of churches you have to pay for them to search the records at a cost of about £16 for the first hour then about £14 an hour or part of an hour after that then you can only see the records for the people they have searched for. I wanted some church records for my Husbands family and got in touch with the church and was told this.

Lets have some like Parky on, it will not be boring, in fact could be more interesting than some they have had on.

Christine

Anybody who has researched their family lines will know that for every question you answer you are left with two new ones! It does not matter how much somebody knows, there is always so much more to find out. The famous,the notorious and the regular are all essential to the history of these islands we call home. In the more than 400 years I have researched I have got the lot but when I compare the pioneer jockey from Leicestershire with the FWK (Framework Knitter - of stockings!) from Nottinghamshire who lived to nearly 100yrs I find just as much interest in both. So, please, make those programmes on Michael Parkinson & June Whitfield- they will be just as fascinating (if not more so- why should we have to be constantly flitting to foreign parts?)for the regular folk of this country!

Boring? How can the working people who helped build the country be boring? My ancestors have been labourers, publicans, saddlers, wheelwrights, tile makers and railway workers. They have been born in workhouses; served in the trenches in WWI; and many died in childhood. I am proud of every one of them. They are not boring, they all played their part. Thanks to them I have visited some interesting places and learnt so much about my local history. They were not famous, they were not rich but they worked hard and managed to improve their lot.

Thousands of us have Ag Labs, Dom Serv, miners and railway workers among our ancestors - as others have commented. Few of us have the foreign and exotic elements that the WDYTYA TV prog makers seem to think is essential for a good prog. I am not in the least interested in celebreties but watch the prog for tips on research in various different areas - I wish there was more of this - such as where to find info on railway workers workers, canal workers, cotton mill workers etc. A look into their - boring (to some no doubt) - lives would strike a chord with quite a few people, I think. We can't all have the privileged access to various archives that some prog subjects have had, nor the services of a personal family historian at every turn - as those in the progs do. How helpful/interesting is that? A note of reality is long overdue.

Parkinson's railwaymen were at the cutting edge of nineteenth century technology

not boring

any more than airport workers and airline pilots are today

Hugh W

I heard this discussed on PM on Radio 4 last night, and I have to say it just confirmed what I suspected: like most of the BBC's output, WDYTYA is dumbing down.

Over the several series, the programme has become increasingly formulaic (e.g. you have to have the celeb on a train, preferably abroad, and they have to cry).

I think it shows the limited wit of the producers if they think that just because Michael Parkinson has no royal connection, no overseas connections etc, then the programme would be of no interest.

As (I think it was) Nick Barratt said on PM last night, they have missed a huge opportunity to show how an individual's family tree links in to the social history of this country. In my opinion, they've missed some great televisual opportunities: Parkie could have been sent down a mine to investigate just how awful conditions were for miners in the 19th century. Railwaymen? Good heavens, much of the world we live in today was created by the expansion of the railways in the 19th century (before their role was supplanted by the motorway). Parkie could have visited one of the preserved steam lines and learned about the work his ancestor(s) did.

If his family were as unremarkable as is alleged, then no doubt some of them would have ended up in the workhouse at some point. Cue a visit to the wonderfully atmospheric Southall workhouse.

It all sounds to me like a huge missed opportunity.

Rather strangely, I think that Heir Hunters is becoming the more credible genealogy programme on the BBC.

Referring to Michael Parkinsons ancestors being boring !! No-one's ancestors are "boring". Railway ancestors are interesting as are domestic servants. Think of all that social history you could be teaching to others by making Parky's family history available on the WDYTYA programme. There are lessons on how the railways operated and where their workers lived. As for Dom Serv, they also have a story to tell - their daily duties, where they lived, who they worked for. Even ag labs - where, what was their daily life like, what happened to them at the onset of the industrial revolution.

Please don't write off these important forebears as "boring". It would be nice to see a celebrity from a truly humble, hard working background whatever their forebears did.

I for one would love to find more information on my ag labs, chimney sweeps, domestic servants, and the more humble but just as important occupations, and am desperate to crack my brick wall on a master tailor who has disappeared off the face of the earth somewhere in the 1830s. Did he have his own business, who were his clientele, why can't I find a birth or death, what were his workshops like, what sort of clothes did he "tailor".

Yes, everyone's ancestors are interesting, however "dull" their occupations may have been.

Come on WDYTYA - get Parky and others on the show.

Jan

I am beginning to believe that one of my favourite programs that I always await with great expectation is starting to let me down after the comments about 'Parky'.
Realising that the BBC may have to play up to the general public who merely watch the program for sensationalism and have no realisation of ever tracing their own family roots.
Watching at the very beginning of the original series heped thousands of people with their research giving tips and advice, and those thousands of us have very 'ordinary' backgrounds to some celebrities that are chosen.
I am sure that I was just as interested to discovery that my great grandparents lived in a two roomed house with a pump at the end of the road for the water supply and very dubious samitary facilities. How they managed to bring up two boys and accomodate a lodger in this home as well as struggling with the death of five other children and by the end of the 19th century to manage to leave the depravation of the mining valley and start afresh with an ever extending family made my cry just as much as 'Davina'(who I thought was wonderful) on discovering her roots.
Show more of the 'Michael Parkinson' type of family and gain back your origianl fans and supporters.

I think that the programme needs to go back to it's roots and show people how to research their ancestors rather than concentrating on the rich and famous ancestors they seem to follow today. When the programme first started it showed people looking up the cencus returns, going to different record offices and how to do the research. Now they just concentrate on one or two famous relatives and leave the rest of the family alone.

Boring ancestors or ordinary people as they are, are the main stay of genealogy with very few people finding the rich, the famous or any royalty in their family tree. Lets get back to the roots and do proper genealogy or social history of ordinary people.