Jodie Whittaker discovers things she doesn’t like about her ancestors in Who Do You Think You Are? 

Jodie Whittaker has revealed some of the things she discovered about her ancestors in Who Do You Think You Are? went against ‘everything [she] believes in’.

The actress, 38, grew up in a mining village in Yorkshire and discovers on the programme that her great-grandfather was a strike breaker in the 1920s.

Speaking to Radio Times, she said: ‘As I understand it, it’s their colliery and they’re working through the strike… It’s not an ideal bit of your family history. Essentially they were scabs. 

‘Living here during the 80s, the idea that you work through a strike feels like it goes against everything you are brought up to believe in.’ 

Jodie speaks about her ancestors working through the strike to her mother Yvonne in the programme who says she has ‘never defended them’.   

The Doctor Who star discovers her great-grandfather Edwin began working in the mines at just eight years old but within 20 years was effectively running a mine with his sons.

During the National Coal Strike of 1921 and the General Strike of 1926 when most miners were striking, Edwin kept his mine going and amassed a small fortune, a hugely divisive action in a part of the country where mining was important.

While the fortune had dwindled by the time of Jodie’s generation, she pointed out that money does not equal a happy childhood.   

She said: ‘Look at me now! It’s sliding doors, isn’t it? [Money] doesn’t equate to a happy childhood. My great-great-grandfather went from a worker to a gentleman, but it’s not like I come from aristocracy. Class meant something back then.’ 

Jodie also explores her father Adrian’s side of the family, in particular his mother Greta Verdun and her half-brother Walter who legend said was killed in battle in 1916 which the actress learns isn’t true. 

Jodie said: ‘So we follow my grandma Greta, who’s my dad’s mum, and she is the youngest of nine, and has been named after her eldest brother. 

‘Her middle name is named after him in a way, and to discover who he was and what journey he went on – and being so close in history to mine. I mean, literally my dad’s uncle, and we had no idea the journey he went on and the hurdles he faced. 

‘The actual, literal battles he was in. That side of it was an emotional rollercoaster because it was so close. It wasn’t like four generations ago, he was my dad’s uncle, and now because I’m 38, he’s like a young boy to me. 

‘He was a young lad, with so much life and I think these stories of WW1 were all historical stories to me, or films, but nothing that was within the grasp of my own family history.’ 

Asked about what she took away from filming the show, Jodie said: ‘It made me feel that history can be your present, as long as you keep it present and when you pass on these stories, you keep people alive. 

‘I now know about Walter [Grandma Greta’s brother] so he can’t die again, that can’t happen. I suppose it’s just about making sure I remember it correctly, and not doing my version of it and then it getting tweaked again.’ 

She added: ‘I was most nervous that [my family history] would be, and this is so narcissistic, but I was nervous that it was going to be properly beige. 

‘I thought, there’s got to be some drama somewhere! I was really nervous that it was going to be like “Well, that’s boring, isn’t it?”. That was what I was most nervous about, but it was the opposite of that.’

Who Do You Think You Are? Series 17 airs at 9pm on Monday 12 October on BBC One.

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