Bad Karma

Boy George on the tragedies he uncovered in his Irish ancestry.

- Caren Clark

GENEALOGY

Who Do You Think You Are?

Monday, BBC1 HD, 9pm

Boy George has been one of the most colourful figures in British music for almost 40 years and even though he’s a proud Londoner, his strong Irish roots have always played a key role in his life.

‘My mother Dinah was born in Dublin and my dad Jeremiah was born in England but his family were from Ireland,’ he says. ‘Growing up in the 1970s with the IRA bombings and innocent people being killed, you were made aware of the fact that your family was Irish.’

In this week’s Who Do You Think You Are?, George – whose real name George O’Dowd – unearths some shocking tragedies in his family tree on a poignant trip to Dublin to learn more about the impoverished childhood of his maternal grandmother, Bridget Kinahan.