Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
6 Episodes 2010 - 2011
Episode 1
Magda is the actor behind many of Australia's most loved comic characters including Sharon in "Kath & Kim" and Mrs Hoggett in the internationally acclaimed "Babe" and "Babe: Pig in the City". Magda has always been a fearless performer but where is that courage from? Magda was born to a Polish Father and a Scottish Mother. The family migrated to Australia when Magda was a child. To better understand how world events have shaped her family, Magda will trace the lives of two ancestors. Both were forced to make grim choices and both were forced to confront the brutality of war.
Episode 2
Cricketer Rod Marsh trawls the records, overturning long held secrets and pieces together the dramatic circumstances that led to his father's adoption. For the first time he discovers who his biological grandparents are and why his Dad was given up for adoption into the Marsh family. And by uncovering a pioneering Marsh ancestor, he finally discovers where he gets his drive and focus from.
Episode 3
Singer Tina Arena has always wanted to find out more about where her Italian-born parents came from, a subject that has never really been talked about in her family. She is driven to find out the truth behind some family secrets and heads off to Sicily to explore her Italian roots. At the end of her journey Tina realises that the issue of abandonment has been running through her family tree for generations and she now understands more about the drive and struggle that her Sicilian ancestors had and the impact this has had on her parents and grandparents.
Episode 4
Actor and comedian Shane Bourne is best known for his role as a senior detective in City Homicide and as presenter of the comedy improvisation show Thank God You're Here. Shane is a single Dad and lives with his 19 year old daughter Ruby in Melbourne. He grew up living with his mother, sister and younger brother Danny. His father, Stan Bourne, was also a well-known comedian and entertainer and largely absent from Shane's life during his childhood and formative years. Shane is aware that his mother, known as Pixie, also grew up never knowing her father - indeed she met him for the one and only time when she was 18. He sees a pattern of absent fathers in his family tree and is keen to investigate the absence of his mother's father, AP Freeman, his grandfather about whom he knows very little.
Episode 5
Actor, dancer and TV chef Paul Mercurio is probably best known for his role in "Strictly Ballroom". In "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" he embarks on a journey into his ancestry to investigate rumours of a mafia connection and discovers a political kingmaker leading a double life. After his parents divorced when he was six, Paul and his siblings were raised in Western Australia alone by his Mum. He never got to know his father Gus until he was an adult. Gus immigrated to Australia from the US in 1956 and Paul knows little about the family that Gus left behind . Along the way Paul learns of a rumoured mafia connection, violence, murky political patronage and innocents caught in the crossfire.
Episode 6
Georgie Parker has created some of the most memorable women in Australian television, with long running roles on a Country Practice and All Saints. The women in her own family are all big personalities and this is the puzzle she sets out to solve: where does that female strength come from? Georgie says she's not afraid to hear any of her family history, but the journey ahead will test her out.