Comic mocked the series in her comedy Mandy

Diane Morgan has admitted she thought she’d never be asked to take part in the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? – after mocking it on screen.

‘I thought I’d blown it after I did a spoof of it in my series Mandy, where Deborah Meaden records her episode of Who Are You Do You Think?’ she admits

In the 2022 episode, it was made clear the parody was ‘a programme in no way affiliated’ with the hit show, before the Dragon’s Den star was told: ‘If you feel like crying at any time don’t hold back.’

As part of the family tree research, the businesswoman called at a house Morgan’s alter-ego was cleaning and mistook her for her long-lost cousin who lived there. During the course of the show, the producer, played by Michael Spicer, kept bribing her for information. 

But the real producers clearly took it in good spirits as Morgan  is the subject of the genealogy show next week, with the comedian saying she found it ‘all surprising and unexpected - all these ancestors who I’d only heard of now came to life with these amazing backstories.’

During the show, researchers discovered her four-times great grandmother went to court on a couple of occasions. The Cunk star explained: ‘She had five illegitimate children by five different fathers. The men all refused to give her money, so she (very boldly for the time) took them all to court and won all but one of the cases.’

While making the show Morgan also returned a ‘Death Penny’ to the family of Albert Dugdale. 

She explains: ‘Albert Dugdale was my great Aunty Jinny’s husband-to-be, but he was killed in the  First World War and so she never married. 

‘We always talked about what might have been if he’d come back. It’s a very sad love story that thousands of women must’ve gone through.

‘We ended up with his "Death Penny", which was given to the families of all those who’d died in the war. Albert Dugdale’s parents gave it to Jinny, and she gave it to my family, but we always felt it should be returned to his family now.’

It is a story tat you might though would have the whole Morgan clan gripped, but the comedian admitted:  ‘Well, my mum asked my aunty if she’d be watching and my aunty actually said: "Depends what else is on"!’

• Diane Morgan's Who Do You Think You Are is on next Tuesday at 9pm.

Published: 3 Jun 2025