General Chat

The length of programme probably precluded too much investigation but I would have liked to see a little of his mother's ancestry shown. Will be watching the rest of the series. Keith

I really enjoyed the Bill Oddie one but missed the one on Channel 4 but will make a note for next week. Helen P I went on the interactive - and saw Nick - he will apparently be giving more tips after each show on the interactive bit - The films by the ordinary people are also being shown each week - two at a time. The other blue button bits were: One showing who was on each of the shows to come and a little write up on them and the other showing events that were up and coming regarding possible genealogy related subjects all over the country under headings like Scotland, England North, England Midlands etc - but these will probably be on after next weeks also. Can't wait for next weeks show! Maggie H

This programme really gave a boost to my own, flagging, research, which is based on a family likeness - I cant prove a link and was beginning to think the likeness was just one of those flukes. But, after seeing how alike Bill and Neil are, Im spurred on to think that Im not wrong about my own family likeness. I thought the programme was interesting, but a little disappointed like the rest of you, that it is more entertainment than education!

Just nudging!..

Oh dear, am I going to be the odd(ie) one out. I thought the whole of the programme could have been done in half the time. It seemed as if they didnt have enough info to do a proper job. I mean, there was quite a lot of time wasted showing Bill walking down corridors and then asking a doctor what the cause of death meant. We would have looked it up in 5 minutes, not gone to a hospital to chat to someone for half an hour. Just seemed like they had to fill the time and didnt have enough proper stuff to do it with. Sorry if I am sounding critical, its just this was more a brief - Bill Oddie life story rather than genealogy.

Enjoyed it, very well done programme. Jo.

I agree in part with you Heather at the beginning I felt as if it was his life story, however as they started to unfold the HISTORY element of the Mills , occupations of the family and where the ODDIE'S originated from it became more interesting. Specially the part of looking up his Grandfathers death inquest in the paper. The whole thing to remember is that if your NEW to all this too much information at the start is very daunting. As the programme is to encourage new commers to the hobby and kick start them off I think it was a very good start of drip feeding. The interactive part of the programme was also good, I liked the DIGITAL STORY part very much. I agree not all of us would be granted a consultation with a doctor re a death cert lol but thats the power of TV lol I look forward to the next one and hope that towards the end of the series we have some more in depth re search for those ancestors who change their names,surnames, ages and places of births causing huge brick walls lol Much happiness Debi

Yes, I have heard the next programme is more comprehensive.

if you havn`t got access to interactive tv just type in bbci on google and you can read all the info on there about the series. jenny x

I too was quite disappointed in the programme. I know it was just meant to be an introduction but they didn't really explain HOW the information was found. I mean Bill just walked straight into his local records office and back out with the certificate with no explanation that this isn't actually possible as they implied he only had the vaguest idea about when his sister was born and died. I know it's probably slumming for a celeb to go into a records office and actually have to search the records to find the refs but at least it would explain to newcomers watching the show the actual process. As for the guy at the end in the studio who was meant to be explaining how they found the certs he STILL didn't explain that you can't just go in and order it on the day. I just hope that records offices across the country don't arrive this morning to queues of people wanting to get certificates. And his explanation of how they found it!!! Well I *know* how they found it and I didn't understand his instructions. On the plus side they added some lovely colour to the story with the trip to the mill and meeting the overlooker and their archive footage of a working mill was very informative. The interactive programme (the "press yor red button" show) would have been good for the beginner but I hope that they get a little more informative as they go on. Zoe

I agree with Zoe I found it quite disappointing, but I think it was more for complete new comers, rather than for people like us who have been doing research for ages. Bills story was lovely though and so spooky the likeness. I'm still trying to find where the redhair came from in my family - cant find anyone past my Dad who had redhair! Karen

Linda His name was Nick Barratt. and yes - I too could have done without feet - that was either the onset of gout or REALLY bad athletes foot

Enjoyed it, but was disappointed by the glossing over of the nitty gritty of locating the records.

Yes, I looked at the interactive bit, but not everyone has digital TV and it seemed to be ignoring them.

great programme,very sad as was the one on bbc 4 after. look forward to the series

I enjoyed it. Just been reading previous comments and I agree that details of how things happened were glossed over although they hurriedly went through some of this in the studio afterwards. Given that the programme was an 1hr, I think the Beeb were angling more for a gentle introduction and went for the story element rather than bombard the viewer with technical info straight off. I'd be hoping that more detailed explanations would be drafted in for future episodes.