Thursday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured actress Ruth Madeley, who was left emotional after uncovering a major family secret: her grandmother Beatrice was adopted. The revelation came as a shock to her father, Geoff, who had never known about the adoption.
The Discovery
The genealogy team traced Beatrice's biological family, finding that her mother, Adelaide Osborne, gave birth to her in a workhouse hospital. Ruth's father, Geoff, remembered Adelaide as a friend of his adoptive grandmother, Elizabeth Burrows. Adelaide was a constant presence in their lives and was buried by Beatrice after her death.
Meeting the Family
Ruth met with professor Julie-Marie Strange to learn more about Adelaide's life. They speculated that Elizabeth Burrows, who also had a workhouse background, may have adopted Beatrice due to their shared experiences. Ruth then examined Adelaide's will, which left everything to Beatrice. The team located the executor's family, and Ruth met with them in Stratford-upon-Avon. They shared that Adelaide worked as a cleaner for them and cared for their daughter Margo, providing Ruth with photographs of her biological great-grandmother.
Emotional Conclusion
At the end of the episode, Ruth visited Southern Cemetery in Manchester, where she paid respects to both Adelaide and Elizabeth Burrows. She broke down in tears after laying flowers. Viewers took to social media to praise the episode, with one calling it "really interesting and moving" and another noting it was "a normal story where extraordinary things happened to ordinary people." Who Do You Think You Are airs on BBC One and is available on BBC iPlayer.
