Sadness and SCANDAL

CLAIRE FOY uncovers devastating deaths and an infamous murder case in her family tree...

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WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
THURSDAY, 9PM, BBC1 FACTUAL

Claire Foy is best known for her starring roles in historical dramas Wolf Hall as Anne Boleyn and in The Crown as a young Elizabeth II. Now, she gets the chance to delve into her own past in this week’s episode of BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are? and unearths a family history of heartbreaking deaths as well as the shocking story of a murder trial that hit the headlines.

‘My mum and dad divorced when I was about seven or eight and I was very close to my mum’s side of the family, who are Irish,’ explains Claire, 39.

So the actor starts her journey into her ancestry by chatting to her maternal grandfather, Jimmy Stimpson, now 93, and hears that his father, Charles, died in a motorbike crash, leaving behind several children.