Sue Perkins discovers link to long-time comedy partner Mel Giedroyc on Who Do You Think You Are?

She’s best known for fronting the first seven series of The Great British Bake Off with long-time comedy partner, Mel Giedroyc and now, thanks to an appearance on BBC One genealogy show, Who Do You Think You Are, Sue Perkins has discovered a brilliant link to her on-screen pal. “I expect that losing my Dad has made me stop in my tracks a bit more,” said presenter, who lost her father in 2017. In the first episode of the new series of Who Do You Think You Are? The star wants to find out whether her “ancestors are like [her]” and “what [she] carries from them”and Sue actually discovers that her ancestors share a geographical link with Mel’s.

Avid-boxer Sue begins her journey of discovery when she visits Mel. She takes a box of photos that her mother has given her and discusses them with her famous co-host. Amongst the photos are ones of her father and her mother and their wedding. The two, who hosted Bake Off together, investigate the wedding photo and analyse the various members of Sue’s family.

Sue told Mel that she is hopeful that her family derives from Lithuania, much like her friend. “I really like the idea that my ancestors were toshing around the same neck of the woods as yours,” she said. The box of photos, ultimately, inspires Sue to try and find out more about her maternal great-grandparents, Emil and Anna Müller. She also wants to know more about her paternal grandparents – Albert and Florence Perkins.

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After looking into the life of her paternal grandparents, Sue meets author Robert Winder in London to find out about Emil and Anna Müller. From German heritage, the Müller family were looked on with suspicion. Emi had to be taken away from his family and was arrested purely for being German. He was interned on the Isle of Man.

Sue then travels there to talk to Professor Steffan Mads to talk about her great grandfather’s experience. Steffan tells her that Emil potentially suffered from ‘barbed-wire disease’ – a form of mental psychosis that derived from the poor treatment they would have suffered.

Steffan reveals to Sue that Anna, her great grandmother, was born in Lithuania, much her Bake Off co-host. Astonished that her family came from the same place as Mel’s, Sue said: “This makes me so happy. I could jump up and down.” Keen to find out more about Anna, Sue heads to Lithuania.

Whilst there, she finds out that Anna was originally born near Marijampole, close to the border of Germany. After seeing Anna’s family tree, Sue learns that she was one of ten children. It is revealed that Anna’s family, the Tislau’s, were “the richest family in the whole area,” and very “well-to-do.” She is determined to find out what became of the wealthy Tislau family after Anna emigrated to London.

In 1939 – just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact that gave Lithuania to the Soviets. The Tislau family, therefore, went to live in Germany. Upon arriving there, they were subjected to Nazi medical evaluations – a cover for racial profiling. Sue finds out that her family had scored a three in what Sue describes as “the perfect Nazi chart” and were therefore deemed “not German enough”. The family would eventually return to Lithuania, where they were then deemed “too German”

The episode ends with Sue returning to the church where Anna was baptized. The building, which is still standing, surprises the presenter when she finds out that inside, it is now a boxing gym. Keen-boxer Sue simply said: “The universe couldn’t have planned this better.” She calls the experience of working on Who Do You Think You Are? “joyful” and “full-circle” for her.

Who Do You Think You Are? continues next Thursday on BBC One at 9pm