Who do you think you are??

I couldn't quite face the shrill voice of Ann Widdecombe who is guest presenting on LBC all this week, so I was fortunate to be able to watch last night's "Who Do You Think You Are?" while I was baking cakes for the Flower Show kitchen this morning. (Don't you just love being able to download your missed tv programmes from the BBC website?)
Who do you think you are? is often a contrived and well padded out "reality" tv show, but occasionally it surprisingly captures extraordinary human emotions and stories, and a "mystery" within actress' Kim Cattrall's own family made for some compelling viewing.
Kim Cattrall was born in Liverpool in 1956. Her mother, grandmother and two aunts were left in abject poverty during the 1930s when her grandfather disappeared from the family home, never to be heard from again, and the programme concentrated on the fate of this man and hoped to unearth the reasons for his behaviour.
However, what it actually did do in fact, was to illustrate just how ancient family secrets can damage and scar family members even three quarters of a century after they happened.
Kim Cattrall is an interesting individual. In many ways she mirrors her rather unreadable Samantha Jones character out of Sex and the City, with her rather aloof persona, perfectly modulated accent and unflappable ,polite behaviour, but amid the actor's "performance", the camera does capture brief moments of shock, anger and emotion as she unearths the reason for her Grandfather's flight...namely that he simply rejected his original family to form a bigamous second relationship, and it is these snippets of the real Cattrall, which I found to be the most fascinating viewing.
Cattrall, (using every dramatic pause in her repertoire) finally breaks the news of grandad to her mother and aunts , who then have their first opportunity in 72 years to see a photo of their father for the very first first time. Their subtle reactions, of hurt, anger and eventual closure is a revelation to watch and I found myself warming to these two generations of tough scouser women (and yes I am counting Cattrall as a scouser), who now lead comfortable and respectable lives
Cracking television!