Chris Moyles on Simon Mayo
Chris Moyles joined Simon Mayo on Radio 2 to discuss his episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
Moyles said both sides of his family were Irish: his mother’s family came from Dublin and his father’s from County Mayo.
The programme became a wider story about the aftermath of the Irish famine and the hardship experienced by millions of families, rather than only a collection of unusual celebrity ancestors.
Moyles described visiting places where his relatives had lived and worked, seeing documents and photographs and feeling that he was walking in their shoes.
The greatest surprise was the scale of poverty and difficulty, although the story ended positively because later generations escaped those circumstances and built healthy families.
He also discussed the unusual filming process. A small crew travelled with him for a week and did not always know the discoveries in advance.
At the emotional end of the programme, Moyles noticed the camera and sound crew also had tears in their eyes.
He hoped viewers might conclude that he was “not that bad” after seeing a quieter and more personal side of him.
Moyles planned to watch the broadcast with his parents and brother while cooking a curry.
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