Network: France 2   Type: Factual   Format : 2 x 60’ + 4 x 90’ Presenting: Marie drucker

Summary:

A new kind of documentary series, BACK TO ROOTS enables a personality to discover their genealogical tree through an absorbing investigation.

Every episode is a trip back through time and space,during which a celebrity sets out to meet their ancestors in France and abroad. This search for roots – a genuine treasure hunt into family history – is made possible through the participation of several different players, i.e. parents, genealogists, archivists and historians.

Because those who agree to experience this fabulous adventure are primarily looking for answers about where they come from and who they are, this programme inspires as many surprises as it does strong emotions. Discovering one’s ancestors – their lives and personalities, their highs and their lows, even skeletons in the closet – is to discover something of themselves.

These unusual discoveries rekindle the memories of those who came before us and reconstruct the times in which they lived. This family odyssey is also a chance to get a different perspective on History with a capital “H”..

In BACK TO ROOTS Phare Ouest Productions has adapted for France 2 the British show Who DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?, a worldwide hit on BBC television