Whitehall Secrets

Jack and Michael Whitehall uncover some villainous and tragic characters in their family tree

- Caren Clark

Jack Whitehall and his deadpan dad Michael have proven that funny bones are a family trait – with the bickering duo teaming up for BBC comedy talk show Backchat and Netflix’s hilarious documentary Travels with My Father.

Now, the father and son are trying to find out what else is lurking in the Whitehall genes as they become the first celebrities to look into their ancestry together in this week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

‘It’s nice we’re both doing this – Jack is the next generation and it’s very important that he knows about his family, because I’ll be gone in about 10 years,’ explains former theatrical agent Michael.

Meanwhile, Jack jokes: ‘I wanted to maybe establish that there is no biological link to him. I’m not disturbed by finding out bad stuff about my family. I was open-minded to potentially finding dodgy things.’

The Whitehalls do indeed discover some dark branches in their family tree when they begin their search by investigating the childhood of Richard Ernest Baxter Whitehall, known as REB, who was Michael’s paternal grandfather and Jack’s great-grandfather.

It was thought that REB, who was born in 1870, had been orphaned as a young boy after his commercial traveller father Richard died in a pony and trap accident and his mother Caroline passed away shortly after from grief.

But Jack and Michael learn Caroline was placed in an asylum and actually died there from dementia caused by syphilis, which had possibly been passed on by Richard, who is also likely to have died of the disease.