Call of duty

Vicky McClure learns about a prisoner of war in her family tree

- CAREN CLARK, JOHNATHON HUGHES

NEW FACTUAL

Who Do You Think You Are?

Thursday, 9pm, BBC1

Vicky McClure's quest to unravel the truth behind two tragic family stories proves to be both harrowing and rewarding in the opening episode of the new run of BBC1's Who Do You Think You Are?, which is marking its 20th anniversary.

'For all the action-packed shows I do and the fact I might seem hard as nails, I couldn't be further from that, confesses the Line of Duty and Trigger Point star. 'I don't like the unknown and this programme is an anxious thing to do because you don't know what anyone's going to tell you.'

However, the actor was keen to learn more about her maternal great-grandfather Harry Millership, who she knew had been a prisoner of war, and cameras follow her as she visits Yorkshire, where Harry once worked as a coal miner.

On the 1921 Census, Harry was 14 and a collier's labourer. He worked in the mines for 18 years and his father Charles was a coal miner, too, says McClure. 'It was a dangerous job but they were a tough family and real workers.