Departing Pointless presenter, Richard Osman, is the latest celebrity to track down their family history in BBC genealogy show, Who Do You Think You Are? He follows in the footsteps of Sue Perkins, who appeared earlier in the series, which you can read about here.
Richard, who has recently achieved success with his Thursday Murder Club novels, was brought up by his mother and cites his grandfather as his “perfect male role model”, he wants to know more about the maternal side of the family and is surprised to learn that crime is closer to him than just fiction.
In powerful scenes - Richard found out that in 1841 his ancestor, a fisherman called Gabriel Gilliam, found the body of a dead woman in Lovers’ Walk in Derbyshire. “That’s quite an extraordinary tale,” said author Richard, who is not unfamiliar with the topic of murder, having produced two successful crime novels. He learnt that his five-time great grandfather, Gabriel, would also help to solve the crime.
